The Farm
by Takada Saiko
Summary: When a leak is found within the Farm, Auggie, Annie, and Jai are sent to investigate the tech department. They go expecting to find a link to the DPD's leak, but what they find hits even closer to home. Co-written with Gabrielle Day R
1. Chapter 1

Title: The Farm

Authors: Takada Saiko and Gabrielle Day

Disclaimer: Obviously, we own nothing

Setting: Here's where things get tricky. Because we're just a wee bit crazy, we decided to stick this multi-chapter, action-filled fic into a tiny bit of space in the middle of episode 9. You may have to stretch your imagination a bit, but Annie has just returned from her vacation, Auggie has already spoken to Liza, but has not gotten the information from her in return. Confused? Welcome to our world =D

A/N: Okay, Boundaries has been on a temp slow down just b/c I've been so busy. I'm volunteering in a big event tomorrow (sadly! will have to catch the epic season finale on Wed or Thurs via Hulu) and have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. This story is almost finished, but it'll take some editing up, so I should be able to post up chapters every other day or so, maybe every day if I'm really good. Hopefully by Wed or Thurs I'll be able to work some on Boundaries, but we'll see. Also, I've been working on some of my own stuff, so I'm going to do a little bit of self-promotion here if you don't mind: I have a short story involving my characters from my original novel The Liberty Pole up on DeviantArt, if you'd like to follow the homepage link I would love to hear what the people that read my fanfiction say about my original work. It's a short, 4 page one-shot that you don't have to have read the novel for, so please, if you enjoy my fanfiction, go check out my original stuff!

Also, Gabrielle Day (the co-author to this story) keeps telling me that she's working on a nice little Joan/Arthur piece that I have yet to actually see, but she's a wonderful author so keep a lookout for that sometime after the season finale!

I think that's it. Enjoy!

* * *

_He really couldn't put the blame on anyone else but himself. He had wanted to go back into the field. He had promised Joan that, if she lent him and an agent or two over to the Farm as requested, he would find the problem in their tech department. He was, after all, the best at his job. They couldn't have seen it coming, even in hindsight he was sure of that. _

_Now he, Annie, and Jai were caught in the old tech lab with flames on every side of them. He could hear Annie calling over the raging noise. He tried to inch towards where her voice was coming from and as part of the framework of the building came falling in around him, Auggie Anderson thought, very briefly, that he should have just stayed away from this mission._

_

* * *

_

**The Farm**

"Joan, the situation is perfect! It's perfect, I'm perfect, the whole thing is..." Auggie insisted, fingers digging into Joan's upper arm as they walked briskly through the corridors.

"Let me guess, perfect? Auggie we've discussed this before. Field work is field work, whether it's in Finland or on the Farm. I would ask how you found out about this, but I'm not sure I want to know." she said firmly.

Auggie stopped their walk. "Wait, stop. We have ops to Finland? The girls there are so very attractive." At Joan's silence he coughed quietly. "Or so I've heard."

Joan swayed slightly as she moved to start walking again, but Auggie did not. She sighed. He wasn't going to give this up, and she knew it.

"You sent me in to DataTech," Auggie reminded her.

Joan snorted a laugh at that one. "First off, it was last resort. Natasha wouldn't have spoken to anyone else but you. Second: we saw how _that_ turned out, didn't we?"

Auggie shot a very earnest look her direction. "I promise not to hop any trains out of country without notifying you fully first."

"Uh-huh," his boss responded with a sigh.

"This isn't the sort of thing you can do off location," Auggie reminded her.

"Who else would take with you?"

"Annie." Auggie said automatically. "She's recent enough to still be familiar with the setting, maybe even have some ins that someone else might not, plus I trust her being my eyes."

Joan arched a slender eyebrow and regarded her tech genius carefully. He was a master of concealing his expressions, but not always. Today he was on his game. "Auggie, just because it's our territory, so to speak, doesn't mean that it couldn't turn into a dangerous situation. If there is in fact someone on the inside leaking information, they may know just enough to make them especially dangerous."

"So I have a set of eyes with me," he answered with a shrug and with a tone that said it all made perfect sense.

Joan sighed heavily. She knew that sending Auggie in was her best option, even if she'd have to send his equipment with him. She thought she'd heard him talk about a laptop that he'd recently bought that was set up with a Braille readout and made a mental note to start it through clearances to be sent along. "Fine," she said at last. "You, Annie, and Jai."

For a brief second, Auggie didn't do such a good job concealing his expression. He lit up like a five year old on Christmas morning, complete with genuine snark-free smile. "Joan, that's..." His brain caught up and she smirked. The excitement dialed down into puzzlement, then confusion. "Wait, what? Jai? You said...you didn't say how many. Just that I couldn't go alone."

Joan patted his arm. "While Annie's busy being your eyes, you're going to need another set on everything else. Get them briefed and report to me." She turned and walked away, still smiling

"Yes ma'am," he managed and scuffled his way towards Annie's desk.

The green light caught her attention first. It always preceded some of her favorite moments of the day: Auggie and his ever present wit. She grinned until she looked up to his face. "What happened? You look like you're dog just died."

The tech officer leaned up against her desk and crossed his arms over his chest. "I think Joan really is pissed over the whole Tash thing."

"Aug, that was weeks ago. If she was going to do something she would have done it when we first got back, right?"

"No... I think she's been saving this one up." He sighed heavily. "You know the Farm bit that's been buzzing around?"

"Not really."

"Maybe just in the tech department... Anyway, I got it."

"That's great!"

"You're my eyes."

"Still not seeing the problem..."

"And Jai's along for the ride."

Annie's mouth curved into a silent "oh" before she smiled and tilted her head. "Well, as long as he's not along to be your sense of touch I think you just might be able to cope."

"Who's touching what?" the man in question asked, standing behind Annie's chair.

Auggie opened his mouth and Annie cut him off. "No one, nothing. No touching. We're going on an op with Auggie."

"I still have my sense of touch, thanks so much," Auggie deadpanned with a disturbed look.

"So, this just got awkward," Jai murmured. "Do I want to know what touching has to do with an op? And Joan's letting you out of the office already?"

"Har har," Auggie grumbled. "Yes, she's letting me out of the office. We're going down to York County."

"The Farm? What for?" Annie asked as she stood. Auggie motioned for them to follow and the three of them started towards his office.

Annie looped her arm through his as he spoke. "There's been a leak coming out and the folks at Camp Peary are asking for a couple of eyes and ears to come down and take a look."

"And that takes all three of us?" Jai asked.

"Annie is my point person on this. You get to come along and be the guard dog."

Jai smiled. "Rest assured that my bite is much worse than my bark."

"Good boy." Auggie said.

"Oh this'll be fun," Annie grumbled, looking between them. Auggie sat at his desk, his fingers flying over the keyboard and his Braille readout. A moment later he had two copies of a brief written out for them and in their hands. "We'll head out tomorrow morning. Be ready to be gone a week at most."

"You think that we'll have a handle on it by then?" Annie asked.

"I think that if we don't, they'll know we're looking by then and our presence there will be worthless," Auggie answered.

The conversation wound down and after a couple pointed glares from Joan the three of them dispersed to continue working. Annie found herself glancing back to Auggie's office until she felt Jai put a hand on her shoulder. She turned and smiled. "What's up?" she asked.

"How do you feel about lunch?" he asked.

"As a general rule I think it's a healthy part of a balanced day." She said with a grin.

"Well, in order to keep you healthy and balanced, would you like to grab lunch with me now?"

Annie nodded. "Sure, just let me finish an email." After Jai's back was turned, she glanced over at Auggie's office and bit her lip. She couldn't quite remember if Auggie had mentioned lunch earlier that morning or not. It certainly wasn't abnormal for them to grab a quick bite to eat, but he was going to be knee-deep in paperwork for the rest of the afternoon, preparing all of his information for the trip the next day. Finally, she stood with the decision that he probably wouldn't miss her either which way.

"You ready?" Jai asked with his usual smooth smile on his face.

"Yeah." She grabbed her purse, shot one more look at Auggie over her shoulder, and headed out with Jai.

* * *

Joan watched them go from the window in her office, face neutral. Arthur sat in one of her office chairs, arms crossed, head titled back towards the ceiling.

"I don't like it." he said for the third time.

Joan resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "It's just to the Farm, Arthur. Auggie will get in there, get the data, and they'll be home again before you know it."

"Annie's already proven to be quite a magnet for trouble, and Auggie certainly doesn't repel it."

"Is it that, or the fact that you don't think Ben Mercer can follow her there? That it's outside of that agenda?" Joan turned away from the window to look at her husband, no, she corrected herself, her boss. He was still looking at the ceiling. "If you think you can turn my entire team into a Ben Mercer show you are mistaken. There are actually more important things that come through this department than one rogue agent, Arthur. And who knows, maybe this information leak is linked with others we've been dealing with. The three of them are going in. I'll report to you when they're settled there."

Arthur gave an overdramatic sigh and stood. "Dinner tonight?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We'll see." Joan watched him leave, eyes following his steps until the door closed behind him. She wanted to trust him, really she did, but there were too many things that he wasn't telling her. She turned her attention back to the bullpen and frowned at the place where Annie and Jai had walked out. She _knew_ that was Arthur's had him written all over it, and she knew that she didn't like it. Annie Walker had too much potential to be tossed around and used at every angle. She would be brilliant if they could just let her.

* * *

In his office, Auggie's agile fingers skimmed over data, storing away the vital bits and disregarding the rest. On the backburner, he tried not to let it bother him that he had been blown off by DPD's fair maiden for Jai the Jerk. After all, it was her loss if she passed up his excellent company and superior wit for fake and cheesy. He also tried not to let it bother him that he was beginning to hear some sincerity in the undertones of Jai's overtures.

Auggie figured he wasn't doing such a great job of not letting it bother him.

He placed a call to his friend Kyle who used to run technical operations for the Farm before being transferred into Langley.

"Revner," Kyle answered.

"How's the new desk job treating you?"

"Auggie Anderson," Kyle Revner laughed on the other end of the phone line. "What have I done to warrant a call from DPD tech ops?"

"The worst sort of trouble ever," Auggie answered lightly. "It's been a few years since I've stepped onto the Farm, so I was wondering if all the old faces are still around?"

"Why the sudden curiosity?" When silence met him Revner gave a low chuckle. "All right, all right. Yes, with a couple of exceptions. A couple of new ones around though. I think Cameron Jenkins was in your class, wasn't he? He took my spot when I transferred here."

"How do we feel about Cameron Jenkins?" Auggie asked, picking up his tension reliever and squeezing his fingers around it.

There was a pause from Revner. "We may feel a little bit of a draft." he said finally, carefully. "The weather hasn't ah...been as warm without you at the helm."

"He never was an overly friendly person," Auggie lamented, laying his head back against the back of his chair. He'd spent the following two years after his training at Ford Bragg back on the Farm teaching the newbies the ropes on tech ops. He had known the systems inside and out, hence the reason that Joan had little choice when the request came through. Also hence the request coming to the DPD instead of a different department. It was understood whom she would send. Who she was expected to send. "I guess I'd be expecting too much to hope for a warm reception if I were to pop in then, huh?"

"The term 'pissing match' comes to mind. Beware the smiling shark. Jenkins is nothing if not courteous, but he's freakishly territorial about the Farm being 'his' space. Not like it wasn't set up and served to him on a silver platter or anything." Kyle said. "It's the kind of visit right up there with family reunions and weddings of ex-girlfriends. Why would you want to pop in?"

"Who says I'm popping in?"

Revner chuckled. "Just be careful, Auggie. He's got a lot more power to play with than when you and I knew him. You go back there and you're on his turf, no matter what the pretense."

"It was my turf first." Auggie said with half a smile. "Thanks for the update. I'll catch you later."

"Sure thing. I'll swing by sometime, we can grab a drink."

Auggie signed off the call and drummed his fingers against his desk. He remembered Cameron Jenkins, but not as well as he would have liked. He was clever and ambitious, but greedy which was what made him vulnerable. And dangerous. At best, they could hope that Cameron had alienated everyone and if he were indeed their man, people would talk. At worst, he had one or two very close friends that would make it nigh impossible to get clear information.

Auggie grinned. He liked a challenge.

* * *

"So Auggie used to run tech ops at the Farm?" Annie asked as she and Jai sat at a small sandwich shop not far from their offices.

"Practically. He technically worked for Kyle Revner, but Revner let him have the reins most of the time from what I heard," Jai answered as he took a sip of his coffee. "I'm just surprised Joan's sending him in."

"Why? If he ran it, it seems like he'd know what to look for. He'd know what was out of place, right?"

Jai shrugged. "Maybe, but after the stunt he pulled a few weeks ago..."

"If Joan trusts him enough to put him on this case, shouldn't you?" Annie asked, feeling that the statement was perfectly logical as she took a bite out of her sandwich that the waiter had just placed before her

Jai watched her for a moment, as usual finding no sign of insincerity in her voice. "Maybe it isn't about the fact that she does trust him. Maybe this is about him proving that he can be trusted."

Annie lowered her sandwich, for a second her face twisting slightly with annoyance and defensiveness for her friend before she smoothed it away. "To prove that the CIA is still his priority," she murmured, thinking first about the pretty young Russian girl on the run before thinking about white shells laced together with a leather cord.

Jai frowned at the far away look she got. "To prove that the DPD is still his priority." He corrected softly.

Annie let her breath leave her nose in a half snort, half sigh. Finally she straightened her posture and looked Jai square in the face. "It is."

The man across from her shook his head and chuckled. "I wish there'd been a day that I could have been as trusting as you," he murmured softly, honestly.

She grinned and their strange flirtation continued until the meal was done.

* * *

By the time they returned Auggie was so tied up with his preparations that he hardly noticed. Annie had to knock on his office door to gain his attention. Auggie looked up from his work, eyes searching momentarily as they often did, as if they were expecting to focus in on something. He tugged his headset off. "We're going in under the pretense that we're setting up a whole new system for them to work with," he offered the last bit of information that had not been set into place. "How was lunch with Jai?"

Annie winced, grateful for a split second that Auggie couldn't see her guilty look. "Good." She said, nodding. "It was good. Have you been to Florentina? They have great sandwiches. If you haven't been, we'll have to go sometime." She realized she was rambling and stopped herself.

Auggie got that strange smile that she could never decipher. "And what if I have been there?"

"Well, you haven't been with me so we'll still have to go." Annie replied.

"As long as the guard dog doesn't come along."

"Oh, stop." Annie laughed.

"Woof, woof." Auggie said.

"Okay, now _your_ bark is worst than your bite,"she laughed, not really thinking of Jai's earlier comment.

Auggie continued to smile, but it unnerved her a little. "You'd be surprised," he warned and turned back to his computer. "You think you might be able to drive tomorrow?"

"Sure, sounds plausible," she answered easily. "You want me to just pick you up at your apartment? And we can meet Jai here."

"Maybe we can just leave him here. Tell Joan we forgot him. Better yet, tell Joan that he didn't show and we had to leave without him." Auggie suggested.

Annie lifted an eyebrow. "Jai's the only person I know that's as crazy about punctuality as you are. I don't think Joan will buy it. Don't worry. We'll get there and you'll be so busy chasing down our guy that you won't even remember Jai's with us."

"Give me five minutes and I could make you forget Jai exists." Auggie muttered under his breath. Joan swept into his office halfway through Auggie's sentence, so the last part was lost on Annie.

She handed a stack of files to Annie. "These are the dossier's of the current crew in tech training there, plus what isn't classified about Cameron Jenkins. Your room and board has been arranged."

Annie bit her bottom lip. "Auggie and Jai are sharing a room?" she murmured, nearly laughing at the sick and twisted sense of humor that the Agency was portraying.

"What do you mean Jenkins has classified information?" Auggie asked, either ignoring or not having noticed Annie's statement. "The people that head up Camp Peary are the ones brining us in. They can't go classifying information and then expecting us to dig in and around everything."

"Camp Peary isn't the one who has had this information classified. This is information not relating to Jenkins' service there." Joan said evenly, but not without warning. "They understand that you're there under the guise of installing their new system, and Annie and Jai are there to assist you. However, it is slightly suspicious that someone known for being so well adjusted should need two assistances, so you also have the backup cover of Annie there to get some of the training she might have missed when we pulled her. Use that if you need to. How well did you know Jenkins, Auggie?"

Auggie leaned back in his chair, pulling at the memories of the man that he could capture. "We weren't friends. We finished up our training around the same time, so we were more competitors."

"I'm sure you'll find a way to get any information that you need out of him," Joan answered earnestly, patting his shoulder. "I want all of you out of here at five o'clock sharp. You'll be leaving bright and early."

"Yes, ma'am." Annie and Auggie said together.

Joan shook her head and slipped back out of the office. Annie also patted his shoulder. "I've got to do some other work before we head out. I'll swing by later."

Auggie nodded. "Sounds good. Bring coffee tomorrow if you want shotgun."

Anne grinned. "As if you wouldn't give me shotgun." she said as she left.

"Shotgun, driver's seat... " Auggie shrugged. "Just as long as we get there."

Annie laughed as she stepped out of his office and left him to the mountains of work that she knew he had to push through on short notice. Auggie tended to hate to leave his post. The only sure fire way to assure that he would was to offer him a field job. Joan had tried to force him into taking vacation before, and after a long and drawn out argument that nearly every other tech agents' feelings were stomped over, Auggie had convinced her that he was not willing to leave his area at the mercy of Barber or anyone else that might reek their version of chaos across it. He would make sure that all of his i's were dotted and t's were crossed, so to speak, so that he would not allow the somewhat sloppier tech op any chance of screwing up something he'd put his heart into.

* * *

After crossing everything off his priority list, which took him well past the dinner hour, Auggie found himself at Allen's before heading home for the night. He had the usual slew of adoring female flirters, but his heart wasn't in the pursuit. He sipped his beer carefully, keeping his ears open for any interesting conversations.

There was the usual college chatter that filled the early September night. Rumors of the supposed 'Spook' hangout hung often in the air and Auggie had to smile to himself. It had always been rumored but never proven. The owner was pretty sure that he could point out each CIA agent when they entered, but of course no one would fess up and therefore the bet was never really won.

Auggie sat alone - intentionally, as he hurried every young lady that attempted to fill the vacant seat away with a promise that he really was waiting on someone - until he heard the chair across from him scoot one final time. He set his beer down heavily and sighed. "You're going to make this difficult, aren't you?" asked the unexpected voice of Jai Wilcox.

Auggie took a long deliberate sip of his beer and gazed steadily in what he assumed to be Jai's general direction. This always unnerved people, although it wasn't as difficult as they imagined. With the loss of his sight, Auggie had learned to rely on his other senses as well as the technology at his disposal to tell him about the world and the people in it. Jai's breathing, the tapping of his finger on the table, the faint sensation of his body heat - all gave the agent away. "Make what difficult?" Auggie asked, attempting to sound as innocent as possible.

Even with all the training the Farm had had to offer, it wasn't entirely believable. Jai frowned, shifting in his chair. "Tomorrow."

"Do you have a complaint about the way it's set up?"

"Listen, Auggie, I know you've never been my biggest fan-"

"Or your father's," the slightly older agent assured him. "I always thought he was the picture of evil on earth, and that's me being nice."

Jai let out a half snort, half chuckle. "Listen, Auggie, I'm not-"

"You're not your father. I know." Auggie sipped at his beer again. "Your point?"

"Then this animosity is over Annie."

"Who said anything about Annie?" Damn. That was a bit too defensive

"You seem to be a logical man, Auggie. Most people don't dislike other people for no reason, or behave in an antagonistic fashion without a cause. I get that you don't like my father. If, by your own admission, you logically understand that I am not my father, then your dislike of me must stem from another reason. And that was just a touch defensive." Jai said, sipping from his own drink.

Auggie narrowed his eyes, wondering briefly if that would weird Jai out. A blank stare was normal from a blind guy. If he couldn't get them with the stare, the blind guy glare usually took people down a notch. "Maybe I just don't like your face." Auggie said.

"Do you even remember it?" Jai asked without missing a beat.

Auggie choked on his drink. It was strange, but very few people made direct reference to his blindness other than himself. Word had spread fast enough as to what had happened that he didn't need to relive the nightmare over and over again. Instead he just heard it in the form of whispers and phantoms of whispers around the office upon his return. It was as if the very mention of his injury would insult him. Jai had never been afraid to insult him. Auggie chuckled after a moment. "Touché," he murmured into his drink.

"You still haven't answered my question," Jai asserted.

"I don't recall you asking a question. You made an imperative statement that may or may not be true." Auggie returned.

"Is your animosity towards me in relation to Annie?" Jai asked, emphasizing the lift at the end of his question.

"No."

"Liar."

"Prove it."

"I have a townhouse in the Hamptons." Jai said.

"How nice for you. A gift from Daddy?"

Jai smiled tightly. "No. I don't like owing anything to him. Annie has agreed to weekend with me there after this case is finished."

The twist on Auggie's face, Jai knew, was only a tiny reflection of the emotion that had its flashpoint somewhere near his heart. To his credit, he schooled it in seconds, but it was enough. If Jai wasn't actually beginning to like her, he might have felt bad for telling Auggie. As it was, he didn't.

"Liar." Auggie said evenly.

Jai smiled again. "Prove it."

"I guess our training has paid off then," Auggie said as he sipped his beer. "I have ways of finding out."

"You have a lot of favors to pull, but not even you could get all of my records," Jai said with a haughty grin that reached his voice.

"We'll see about that." Auggie reached into his pocket and pulled his wallet out. After a moment he fished out a couple of folded bills and laid them out on the table. "I'm sure you'll make sure the nice lady gets these, right?" he asked, waving a hand at the money.

"Oh yes. Wouldn't want to tarnish your sterling reputation here at Allen's." Jai said. "Can I offer you a ride home?"

Auggie tilted his head and shook it slightly as he pulled out his laser. "God, no. I'm going to spend enough time with you all too soon. Don't be late tomorrow." Auggie said, and left with a wave. Too late, Jai found himself waving back.

* * *

A/N: We are review addicts, and we have to share, so please! Don't forget to review!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews, guys! Always appreciative!

* * *

The next morning came all too soon. After a bad night's sleep in which he wrestled with demons that he would have rather had left in the sands somewhere half a world away, Auggie had woken late and barely pulled his shirt around his shoulders when the sound of Annie's knuckles against the door sounded through his loft. At least he hoped it was Annie. That was the only person that he could place at his doorstep before five in the morning. He shuffled over to the door and tugged it back. Thankfully, a waft of Jo Malone Grapefruit hit his sensitive nose.

"Coffee, as requested." Annie greeted, offering the cup.

"Ah, the threat of Jai driving was too great for you, after all." Auggie said, carefully reaching up. He almost recoiled when his fingers brushed against her, but instead let them linger a second longer than necessary. He would chalk it up to the early hour.

She smiled and shut the door behind her. "You better hurry or you won't get shotgun, either." she teased

"You'd really put me in the back? Then you wouldn't have any good conversation the whole way."

"What makes you think that Jai's bad conversation?" Annie laughed, sipping at her own espresso-filled coffee.

"He opened his mouth," Auggie answered. "I slept through the first of my alarm, I'll be ready in just a sec."

"Do you want me to take your bag to the car?" Annie called as Auggie disappeared into the bedroom.

"No, just hang on." Annie walked around the living room, forever impressed by Auggie's ability to live the way he did. He was brilliant, perhaps the smartest man she'd ever known. Sometimes she wondered if he was more dangerous than she gave him credit for.

A few moments later Auggie returned with a bag slung over his shoulder and his out-of-the-office white cane in his hand. It was folded, as Annie and seen him move very comfortably around the open space. It was amazing to think what all he must have had to learn in a year and a half. "You ready?" she asked, identifying her location.

He stopped and half turned in the light and she caught her breath. A smile curved across his lips. "Annie. I'm always ready."

She rolled her eyes, but grinned. "Well, let's pick up our third and get back to where we once belonged."

He let out an exaggerated groan as he locked his door behind them. He then took her hand and followed her down to the car.

* * *

The relatively short trip to Langley was filled with the usual chatter and playful banter. Jai was waiting for them at the gate, dressed as always in his dark suit. He opened the back door to Annie's car and slipped in along with a small bag. "We've got the go-ahead. Joan says we have everything we need," he said as he sat down. He glanced up at the front. "Didn't sleep well last night, Auggie?"

The tech agent frowned. "What makes you say that?"

"Dark circles under your eyes."

"Damn. I must have missed a spot when I put my foundation on this morning." Auggie said, touching his fingers gingerly to the skin under his eyes.

"I'm not sure you have the right color. I'll give you the number for my Avon lady." Annie offered.

Auggie grinned and shook his head. "No, I didn't sleep well," he answered, surprisingly truthful. The inclined his head towards the back and asked disingenuously, "And you, Jai?"

"Wonderfully." He let his eyes slide to Annie. "And I had wonderful dreams."

"Well I'm glad we're all relatively well rested." Annie said, glancing between them. She suddenly felt as though the drive was going to be a lot longer than it should be.

"I'm sure you did," Auggie grumbled as he lay his head against the window and let his eyelids droop. He didn't dream about Iraq often anymore, but when he did it lingered. Sometimes only into the next day, sometimes for a week afterward. He blinked several times and reached for his coffee in the holder.

The trip itself was relatively short. They passed through security with no trouble and were shuffled off to the technical operations facility for Camp Peary. Annie had to park her car in regulated parking before all three of them stepped out into the still-warm September air. Auggie felt Annie lace her arm through his.

"So, if you're my eyes, does that make us four eyes? Or six? Do you wear contacts?" Auggie asked.

Annie shook her head. "Two heads are better than one?" She offered.

"Well, that depends on whose head you're stuck with." Auggie said, half over his shoulder.

Jai shouldered his bag. "It must be so difficult for you, tripping about with those of us with very little brains."

Auggie grinned, ignoring the sarcasm.

"August Anderson. I wouldn't have suspected them to send you out here," an approaching figure called out. He was tall, very thin, and wore very round glasses that looked slightly odd on his angular face. He stopped directly in front of the three operatives, his stance screaming that he expected respect from them, if he earned it or not. "I had heard what happened in Iraq and suspected they'd put you on medical retirement."

"Cameron Jenkins," Auggie greeted, knowing him not by his voice specifically, but by the obnoxious drawl that it held. "They couldn't get rid of me that easily." He reached a hand out in a friendly manner to shake the taller man's.

"I don't shake hands, forgive me." Jenkins said, sounding entirely as though he didn't care if they forgave him or not. "They didn't get rid of you and gave you not one, but two dogsbodys." He raked his gaze across Annie. "Obviously you know far too much about someone, but you're here for the installation? If I weren't so busy, I'd just as soon do it myself. I guess it doesn't hurt to have a an extra set of eyes...oh, bad phrase, I suppose...an extra set of hands about the place." A young trainee joined them. Jenkins nodded towards her. "This is Alyssa Larson. She'll show you where you'll be staying and then take you to the tech center where you'll be working. Any questions?"

Auggie managed to bite his tongue and give what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Alyssa Larson could be heard shifting until her boss left. "Mr. Anderson, did you really hack into the Farm's systems when you were in training here?" she asked, her voice betraying every bit of the excitement that seemed to wash over her.

Auggie chuckled at this. "That's... never been proven."

"Alyssa." Jenkins said sharply. "You have training exercises this afternoon, do you not? I suggest you show these...agents the way and get on with it."

"Yes, sir." she said. "This way." As she led them through the corridors she cast a look around for Jenkins. When she was satisfied that he was not in earshot she lowered her voice to a conspiratorial level. "One of my research projects is on the way you, ah, allegedly hacked not only the Farm but the time the wires got crossed for all the offices in the New York FBI office. I think it was absolutely brilliant."

Annie and Jai exchanged glances. Apparently Auggie was more well known than they had anticipated.

Auggie nearly beamed with pleasure. "Well, if I _had _been responsible for that, I'm sure it'd have been a blast," he assured her confidently.

Alyssa led them into what looked like the faculty housing that neither Jai nor Annie had ever set foot in. She handed a card to Annie and Jai and, when she realized her mistake, pressed Auggie's into his hand. She blushed deeply. "Ya'll's room is just down the hall on the left, and Miss Walker's is here on the right," she explained. "I really should be going." She turned, as if to leave, and then turned back again, speaking in rushed tones. "Officer Jenkins says that it's not worth following your work, because he says that you can't produce anything new, but I know you can do anything you did before," she managed to get out, the sentence run together and jumbled. Her face was bright red before she ducked out of the hallway.

Annie grinned and lightly tapped Auggie on the shoulder. "Think she has a little hero-worship going on?"

"It's about time somebody recognized me as the technical god among men." Auggie replied.

"If she's Jenkins gopher she might know things." Jai murmured.

Auggie nodded. "I'll see if I can't arrange to have her 'assist' with some of the installation."

"I'll meet you guys at the tech center." Annie said and slipped into her room.

Jai lightly rested his finger tips against the back of Auggie's arm, replacing Annie's guidance. Auggie almost told him it wasn't necessary, but he wasn't completely sure of his surroundings and it wouldn't do to walk into a wall with only Jai as a witness. When Jai shut the door to the room behind them, he surprised Auggie by saying, "Has Jenkins always been a rude and slimy or is that a new development?"

"He wasn't nearly that bad," Auggie murmured after some thought. "He was actually kind of forgettable. Bright, driven, but always falling just short enough that I didn't have to worry about him giving me too much grief in the run for the upper ranks of our graduating class. He never had the power to back up any sort of hostile attitude." He pulled away from Jai and laid his hand against the closest wall, ready to start the rounds to get a mental image of the room.

"Two beds and a bathroom. Watch out for the desk there," Jai warned as he dictated their surroundings.

Auggie tapped his cane against the desk and set his bag on it. "I'm sure you won't argue me setting up here?"

"Whatever you need to do." Jai agreed. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and placed his bag on the bed furthest away from the bathroom.

Auggie began pulling equipment out of his bag and placing it on the table. Jai watched him, impressed with his surety of movement. He wondered how long Auggie would be satisfied with occasional field assignments, parceled out to him only by way of personal involvement as with Natasha or by specialized skill set, like now. For one horrifying moment he imagined Auggie teaming up with Ben Mercer and going rogue. Now there would be a nightmare of a dream team.

"What are you staring at?" Auggie finally asked. "I can feel that, you know."

"Feel what?"

"The burning in the back of my skull."

For once, Jai stammered. He was not quite used to Auggie's somewhat new situation. It'd been less than two years since the younger man had returned from the Middle East blinded and benched, but Jai had spent the majority of the time in England. Up until he'd been recalled to handle the Mercer issue for Arthur. "How long did it take you to get situated?"

"You're going to have to be more specific," Auggie laughed.

"After you lost your sight."

Auggie let his breath out in a long, thoughtful sigh. "Well, I'm still learning in a lot of ways. I guess I always will be, but I just kind of take it as it comes."

"What made you want to come back to the CIA?" Jai asked, sitting on the bed.

Auggie drummed his fingers slowly against the top of his laptop. "It's what I was made to do. However I can do it, I will." he said quietly. The silence, the honesty, hung between them until Auggie grinned. "Besides, how else would I get all these cool gadgets and hot chicks?"

"You've got a line to hide behind for everything, don't you?" Jai asked after a moment, dark eyes narrowed at the tech agent.

Auggie shrugged. "We all have something." He turned back to his laptop and booted it up, feeling for the wires to hook up his portable Braille readout. It wasn't nearly as nice as the one that he had back at Langley, but it did the job well. Well enough to work for this mission. When he heard the sound of the computer chiming on, he turned slightly back to his new roommate. "And you, Jai? Did you really want to come to the CIA to follow in your father's footsteps? I mean, it makes a great line for the higher-ups, but those of us that have been around long enough don't buy it."

"Well, you'll have to buy it. I'm not selling any other lines." Jai said. He stood. "As soon as you're done there we should meet Annie in the tech center. She's probably waiting."

Auggie nodded, closing down the computer. He pulled his usual leather satchel from its folded place in the bag and put the laptop into it. He gently added the extra equipment behind it and pulled the strap over his head. He grabbed for his cane again and started towards the door.

"They not let you bring that nifty little laser with you?"

"I'm not actually supposed to leave Langley with it," Auggie admitted as they walked down the way.

It was a very short distance over to the tech center and Annie was trying to avoid several of the young trainees that she wasn't available that weekend for any sort of dinner, movie, or whatever else they had in mind.

Auggie sauntered towards the sound of her voice, whacking the trainees that didn't get out of the way fast enough gently in the shins. She turned just as he reached her and he linked their arms together. "Sorry, people. She's with me." He took no small pleasure at the mild mutterings and shuffling of feet as the worker bees returned to their lines in the hive. "Miss me?" he asked.

"Excessively. I thought geeks were supposed to be shy."

Auggie scoffed. "Have you learned nothing by watching me?"

"I've learned that you, August, are one of a kind." she said.

He grinned happily. "As are you, Anne."

"Anderson?" an unfamiliar voice asked and Auggie stepped forward, signaling that it was him. The voice's owner seemed to be young, probably newly graduated and had never seen the actual field. Auggie had originally been in that position and, looking back on it, thought it all seemed rather pointless. If one was going to have a place of power over students trying to learn how to work in the CIA, then one should at least have the experience to impart to them. This young man did not sound like he'd been out of training for more than a couple of months. "I'm Tanner Sullivan, Officer Jenkins' personal assistant. I'll be showing you around." There was a pause as the young man looked Auggie up and down.

"Technically, you'll be showing her around. I'll just take your word for it." Auggie said.

Tanner managed to look chagrined, and indicated to Annie that she should follow him. "This is our main hub. We have nine stations here. Since we are a training facility, most of what happens here are test scenarios for our students. Occasionally we get live feeds if something comes by us that the big shots want a new recruit on, or if something directly impacts our facility."

"What would that be?" Annie asked.

"Believe it or not, we do get threats against this place, or the trainees. It's rare, but it happens. People are crazy."

Tanner paused, shooting a nervous glance in Auggie's direction. "If I might ask...?"

"I've got all the necessary equipment to do my job," Auggie assured him as he patted his bag at his side.

"All right," he answered and ushered them into the appropriate room. It was small with computers glaring all around in the darkness. He asked if they required anything else and offered that he'd be just down the hall if they needed him before he left.

Auggie let his breath out in the form of a sigh when the footsteps faded and he found a chair that he could clear space enough for his laptop.

"Now what?" Jai asked, eyes scanning the area for anything abnormal.

"By putting us in here they've given me a nice gateway into the systems. It makes getting to where I need to go that much easier."

"It's kind of...small." Annie said, glancing around the office. It hummed with the sound of high functioning computers and the smell of warm electronics lingered in the air.

"Luckily I'm not claustrophobic." Auggie said cheerfully.

"There aren't any cameras." Jai said, glancing around for indicators of CCTV or recording devices.

Annie pulled a pen out of her pocket and clicked it. She walked around the room slowly. "I've been tagged for some retroactive training already. I guess my fieldwork doesn't let me test out of it." She said. When she'd made a full circle around the room she clicked it shut and placed it back in her pocket. She shook her head to Jai to indicate there were no bugs detectable.

"Looks like you're good to go, Auggie."

"I love the Farm," he murmured as he started to pull his equipment from his bag and set up. "Most people haven't had enough time in the field to become paranoid yet."

Annie choked back a laugh as she watched him move quickly and his computer chimed to life. She'd had basic training on the technical side of everything, but her talents certainly didn't land her in that department. "I'm going to meet Sullivan for my training details. I should be back in a little bit. Try not to kill each other or corrupt the youth while I'm gone." Annie said. She patted Auggie on the shoulder to let him know she was leaving, smiled at Jay, and headed back into the fray of wide eyes and bright minds.

"I never promised anything, did you?" Auggie murmured, not turning his face away from the computer.

Jai chuckled. "I think Alyssa may have a bit of a crush on you. You geeks do run in herds, huh?"

The tech agent gave a wide grin but didn't respond as he pulled his headsets firmly over his ears. His fingers danced across the keys with such a speed that Jai could barely keep up. Codes lit up the laptop screen and he watched passwords and bits of information being inputted with relative ease. Finally Auggie slipped on side of the headsets off. "We're in," he murmured lowly.

* * *

A/N: Please, reviews make our day. Please let us know how it's going!


	3. Chapter 3

Annie shook Tanner Sullivan's hand for the second time when she met him in the cafeteria. "Miss Walker, thank you for meeting me here. I'm afraid I'm on a rather strict schedule." he said.

She eyed him, noting his carefully put together look and his serious demeanor. He seemed comfortable with himself, but stressed. He didn't seem put out by having to deal with their presence, but accepting. She smiled brightly. "It's no problem. We really appreciate you taking the time to help us out. I know you must be excruciatingly busy being Cameron Jenkins personal assistant."

The young man gave a sigh. "You have no idea. I understand you were pulled off the Farm early? That's impressive. Did you ever do any work with Officer Jenkins?"

"No, I've never met him," Annie answered. "My specialty is linguistics."

"I'm sure there's one in every department," Sullivan said lowly. When he realized that the words had actually been spoken aloud he blushed slightly and turned on his heel. "It's been a long day already. This way please."

"I hear Jenkins is absolutely brilliant. Does he mentor you as part of you being his assistant?" Annie asked, keeping up with his brisk pace.

He smiled sardonically. "You could say that. He is a brilliant man, but brilliance doesn't necessarily make a man good. Here we are." He ushered Annie into their destination.

"Ah...this is a gym." She said, sounding confused.

"Yes. Langley informed us that your technical scores are adequate for someone of your specialty, but your hand to hand skills are lacking."

Annie put her hands on her hips. "Oh, really?"

Sullivan colored again and looked through his notes. "At least... the last time you tested. I'm sure they have your best interest in mind, Miss Walker."

"Oh I'm sure," she grumbled.

"They'll have PT clothes to change into and the sort. If you'll talk to the coach about it, he'll get you set up. I'll see you in a bit."

"You're leaving?"

"Well.. Officer Jenkins doesn't want me to leave Mr. Anderson and Mr. Wilcox alone for too long. He didn't say why, just not to. He tends to leave out the details of nearly everything he wants done." The last was said with an awkward sounding chuckle.

"He's do-it-himself kind of guy, huh?" Annie asked with a knowing smile. "Auggie's the same way." She smiled slowly. "What were you're hand-to-hand scores? Maybe you could give me some tips."

Sullivan looked surprised. "I scored very well." He heard himself saying.

"Stick around," Annie said. "Mr. Anderson will be just fine for a few minutes. Jai's very good about keeping an eye on him."

"Well, maybe just a few tips..." Sullivan said.

"Good. Let's get going then," Annie said with a wide smile.

* * *

"You're in that fast?" Jai asked with surprise.

"Wasn't too hard. They really haven't upgraded the security like they should. After everything is said and done I'll do it for them."

Jai glanced back at the door, thinking he'd heard something.

"People are moving all around here. If you jump at every sound you'll look suspicious," Auggie murmured.

"I _am_ suspicious. So are you." Jai said mildly, positioning himself closer to the door.

Auggie briefly glanced in the direction he thought Jai to be in. "You don't think Jenkins really buys us being here."

Jai shook his head. "No. Think about it. Even if he doesn't know what division we work for he knows we come from Langley. You're good, the best, but they even told us they don't get much live information through here. The new system might be a slightly more difficult challenge for someone else, but not impossible. I hope it wouldn't be impossible or when you die communications are going to hell in a hand basket."

Auggie smiled automatically, but the concern blooming in his chest wasn't diminishing. "What would be the purpose in him playing along?" he asked

"Could be several things," Jai said thoughtfully. "He could be forming a plan, luring us in, or it could be that he is innocent despite his attitude issues. He could have been told why we're here."

"Doubtful," Auggie murmured.

"Well you know the man," Jai pointed out.

"Not well, and not anymore." Auggie sighed, running his fingers across his readout. "This is interesting."

Jai moved over to read the screen as Auggie moved his fingers over the read out. "What is it?" Jai asked.

Auggie frowned at the proximity, but said nothing. "It looks like some of these hypothetical situations the students are getting aren't so hypothetical."

"Someone's pulling in live information without anybody else knowing?" Jai asked.

"Who would know?" Auggie said. "The students certainly wouldn't. Only the person pulling it in."

"And the person they're giving it too." Jai added

"I trust everything is working appropriately?"

Both men froze where they were and Jai turned after half a beat to see Jenkins standing in the doorframe. His face was set with a bored sort of frown.

"Besides the fact that you guys are way behind in upgrades," Auggie groaned from his chair.

The taller man standing next to him glanced back down to see a completely different screen than they had been looking at previously. This one ran with codes that he couldn't begin to identify.

Jenkins approached them. "I had asked Mr. Sullivan to come back and offer his assistance."

"I have my good buddy Jai here to assist me; young Mr. Sullivan isn't needed. I'm sure he has lots and lots of more important things to do. It must be nice, having someone to fetch you coffee just the way you like it every morning." Auggie said.

Jenkins glanced between them. "That isn't what he's for? To lead you around by the hand and bring you what you need?"

"I'm afraid I could never get the coffee just right so we agreed I should just stop trying." Jai said easily.

"Shame. You actually look halfway intelligent, and you can't get a coffee order straight?" Jenkins asked, bordering on a sneer.

"I'm a difficult man to order coffee for. It's not really Jai's fault." Auggie said. "Was there something you needed? We're about to get underway and it's easier without too many distractions."

Jenkins eyed them carefully. "You'll let me know if you need anything, of course?"

"Of course," Auggie answered. Footsteps retreated out the door and the tech agent let out a frustrated sound. "He was always an arrogant bastard," he huffed.

"Where'd it go?" Jai asked, glancing back to the screen.

Auggie shrugged in response. "I buried it," he answered as if it were an obvious answer.

"You are very frightening." Jai said.

Auggie's fingers stilled and he gave a brief, genuine smile to acknowledge the concession it was. "We all have our little talents. Coffee ordering apparently just isn't one of yours."

Jai snorted a laugh. "Neither is leading you around."

"Good, because I'd bet you'd walk me into walls and forget me more than Annie."

"Annie forgot you?"

Auggie grinned. "Just once. Right after we met. She thought Joan had fired her and so she got it into her head to prove the point that she was trying to make about a Russian snitch. Well, we thought he was going to be a snitch. Anyway, she broke into the morgue and left me standing there for all of a couple seconds. Thought she was going to leave me. Turns out she forgot I can't just follow behind." A smile perked Auggie's lips and a look crossed his face that Jai had never seen. "She completely forgot I couldn't see her."

Jai leaned against the desk and watched the younger man work. He really did care for Annie. "It's an easy thing to do." he said quietly. And it was true enough. Auggie maneuvered through headquarters almost as easily as his sighted coworkers and could work circles around every last one of them from within its walls. He was charming and good-looking, and was more attractive to women because of his lack of self-pity.

But the girls outside the job weren't like Annie. They didn't see the Auggie that Annie saw, literally or metaphorically. She was headstrong, smart, and believed the best of people. It would make her great or get her killed one-day. It was easy to see why Auggie cared about her. It was becoming easier to see why he was falling for her, too.

"Wish I could forget it," Auggie answered, equally quiet. He caught his momentary laps and it was replaced with a smile and the tapping of his fingers. If there was one thing he would want to do in the world, it was to see Annie Walker.

* * *

Sullivan hit the mats hard, the breath rushing from his lungs. He gave a cough and blinked up at the blonde woman who stood over him. "You okay?" Annie asked, offering him a hand up.

"Guess I'm out of practice," the younger man managed.

"Maybe I've learned a thing or two since leaving here." Annie laughed. She helped Sullivan stand.

"Where did you learn to do that thing with your elbow?" Sullivan asked, rubbing his jaw.

Annie grinned. "Auggie taught me." She said. She realized after it was out that she sounded proud.

"Auggie? As in Auggie Anderson?" Sullivan asked, cocking his head to the side. "How did _he_ show you anything?"

"The very same. He's really quite amazing. Here, put your hands on my shoulders." Annie said. "I'll show you."

Annie went through the same steps that Auggie had taught her months before. Tanner Sullivan seemed very impressed and almost more so to hear where they'd come from. "Officer Jenkins can't stand him," he said after they finished up. "From the moment he found out that Mr. Anderson was the one that was coming he's been in a really bad mood. I mean, he's pissy about everything, but I don't think I've seen him this bad... ever. Do you know what Mr. Anderson did to him?"

Annie shrugged. "I don't know. From what I understand, they didn't even know..." Her mind raced, catching up to a frightening possibility.

"Annie?"

"Sorry! I wasn't aware they knew each other. Just that they were classmates, so to speak. Hey, I'm going to hit the shower and check on the boys. Does Jenkins keep you running all night or are you free for dinner or coffee anytime?"

Sullivan again looked surprised, though he tried to hide it. "I don't work later than eight, most nights. Perhaps a late dinner?"

"Sounds good." Annie said. "Keep working on that swing. You could be a fearsome combination of tech geek and ninja."

* * *

By the time that she got cleaned up and changed back into her suit and heels, Auggie and Jai were beyond ready for a lunch break. Annie walked into the room that she had left them in and waved. "Hiya boys. I see you're both still alive. This is progress."

"To the point that I think there was even a little defending each other," Auggie mumbled as he closed his laptop down and put it away. "Jenkins can bring even us together."

"Wow. His powers must be stronger than we think." Annie said. "Auggie, are you sure that nothing happened between you and Jenkins back in the day? I heard that he was really unhappy when he found out it was you specifically coming to do the installation."

Auggie shifted and stood. "He's probably just paranoid that I'm here. I used to run this place and he's territorial from what I hear."

Annie glanced at the door to make sure it was still closed and lowered her voice. "Auggie, this could be a set-up."

Jai crossed his arms. "We've thought of that. We discovered that someone is filtering in real information mixed with the false. We haven't figured out the pattern yet."

"Doing the upgrades and installation is interfering with focusing on the intel." Auggie grumbled. "We need more time."

"Are you _sure_ there isn't some sort of bad blood between you two?" Annie pressed.

Auggie sighed. "We were competitive, but everyone that gets anywhere here is. That's it on my end. If there was more on his end I never knew it."

Annie nodded, finally satisfied. She took Auggie's elbow. "You two ready for some food?"

"If you can call it that," Jai grumbled. "The one thing I remember from the Farm."

"Maybe there's a secret menu for staff that we'll be privy too. I mean, we got faculty rooms. Maybe there's better food lurking around somewhere." Annie said.

"Lurking should never be used to describe food." Jai said mildly.

"That's exactly what this food does." Auggie said.

Sullivan was approaching them from the other end of the hall, freshly showered but grim looking. He met them halfway. "Alyssa Larson is missing."

"The girl from earlier?" Auggie asked.

Sullivan nodded and then replied verbally. "Yes. We were hoping one of you'd come across her. There was a chance that she'd come looking for you, Mr. Anderson. One of her research assignments is on some of your work."

"So I hear," Auggie answered. "Did she make it to her lecture?"

"No, we haven't seen her." Jai said. "The only person to come by the office was Jenkins."

Annie shook her head. "I didn't see her when I came or left my room, I'm sorry. Is there any indication she's left the campus?"

Sullivan shook his head. "She's disappeared off the radar completely.

"I'm going to guess this is unusual," Auggie stated as he unfolded his cane, giving Annie the ability to move away from him if need be.

"Do you need help looking for her?" the blonde asked.

A sense of relief washed over Sullivan's face. "That would be great."

The small search party let out from there with instructions of where the girl had last been, where she might have gone, etc, etc. Auggie kept a hold of Annie's arm as they looked.

* * *

After their lunch break was used up in the search, the three of them returned to the computer lab in silence. A red-headed, bespecled young woman waited for them. "Please don't tell Tanner I was in here," Alyssa begged.

"Alyssa! Have you been here this whole time?" Annie asked.

Jai quickly shut the door behind them, making sure no one had seen her during their entrance. "What are you doing?" Annie demanded before the girl had a chance to answer the first question.

"I have information you need to know." Alyssa said, sounding afraid.

"Must be a doozy," Auggie murmured as he took a seat.

"This is going to sound crazy, I know," Alyssa began, stammering and stuttering her words out. She shifted her weight between feet, eyes wide and trained solely on the blind tech agent. "I think Officer Jenkins is trying to hurt you."

Annie wished, not for the first time that Auggie could see the pointed look she gave him despite the fact he couldn't see it. "What makes you say that?" Auggie asked, moving his fingers to hover over the read-out pad out of habit.

"I overheard him talking to someone about something called the Zion project. He said that it should have been his victory and maybe now that he'd gotten you here he'd finally own the Farm." Alyssa said.

Auggie tilted his head and squinted his eyes, giving off a very confused look. "What the... Is Zion even _active_ anymore? That was years ago."

"Do I even want to ask?" Jai piped up.

Auggie shrugged, his expression still perplexed. "Zion was a computer program that I came up with that landed me the job here after my training at Fort Bragg. They used it for training for a couple years. Kyle Revner implemented it and really liked it."

"Maybe it isn't the Farm he really wants." Annie said. "Auggie, can you tell when the real information started coming in with the false information?"

"Sure. Give me a second. What are you thinking?"

"Is it important information? I mean, information that could get agents killed or is it more tip offs loose ends?" she asked.

"Any information can potentially get agents killed," Jai said lowly.

Auggie nodded in agreement. "Theoretically they could send in what looked like a bunch of small bits and all the people would have to do was patch it together. It wouldn't be hard." There was a pause and his fingers seemed to move quicker. "This... is not good."

"Maybe Jenkins didn't pull the information in with the intent of someone figuring it out. He started pulling information in to get the attention of our department, and in the meantime someone else has been piecing it together, haven't they?" Annie asked softly.

"Would Officer Jenkins really do something like that?" Alyssa asked, horrified. "He wouldn't really let someone get hurt, would he? Or...kill someone?"

"Jenkins always had the problem of underestimating people and actions," Auggie murmured, checking his readout. "Yeah... this stuff by itself seems harmless enough, but it could put some names out that really shouldn't be out there." He frowned deeply. "Did you just overhear Jenkins, Alyssa?"

"Coupled with my own research," she admitted softly. "I kept running across information that shouldn't be there." She paused, eyeing Auggie. "Your name kept coming up."

"Yeah, I noticed."

The further along in the trail he got, the more his name kept cropping up. The chill didn't hit his blood until Annie's name showed up for the fourth time, linked with his. It wasn't possible, but it was there. Jenkins had set the trap, and he had walked them both right into it. And if he weren't quick enough, it would get all of them killed.

"Does Sullivan know that you know all of this? Does he know any of it?" Jai asked.

Alyssa shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Unless he's the one putting the pieces together." Annie said grimly.

"We can't take that risk," Auggie murmured.

"We need to call Langley," Annie said as she reached for her phone.

Auggie groped around, finally clutching her wrist. "No, not yet. They took our phones on entry. We don't know if they're still clean."

Annie's eyes widened at the thought and nearly dropped the phone.

"So what do you propose we do, Auggie? Send the girl back out with Jenkins or whoever else is trying to use this against the CIA?"

"No," the tech op growled, reaching his hand up and rubbing hard at his eyes. "We have to find a way to keep you close so we can keep an eye on you. Or they can," he finished flippantly, waving in Annie and Jai's general direction.

"Is there a way off the campus that isn't monitored? Maybe Jai can take you out of here all together." Annie suggested.

Jai stiffened at the idea. "I'm not leaving you here alone."

"She wouldn't be alone." Auggie protested.

"And you could do what to protect her if you had to?" Jai asked.

"Excuse me," Annie started, but Alyssa silenced them all.

"Guys, it doesn't matter. There isn't a way out that doesn't involve a check point.

"Hang on," Auggie growled out, turning to Jai. He was tired and a headache was tugging at his senses. He didn't need insult on top of everything else right then. "If Annie needed to be protected I could protect her."

"Oh, really?" Jai said, eyebrow lifting. "Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things I know you can do, but what would happen say if a sniper's mark appeared on her?"

"Stop it!" Annie said sharply. "This is not the time nor place for this. And I can protect myself, thank you both very much. We have more important things to focus on, here."

Auggie opened his mouth to continue the argument, regardless, when his computer started screaming an alarm. He turned to it and fumbled for the headset. All the other three saw was 'alert' written in large, bold, red letters across the screen. Auggie paled at whatever he was listening to and his fingers moved nimbly over the keys and his readout. "What the hell... How could he _find_ something like that...?"

"Auggie?" Annie asked, her tone asking for both information and assurance. She moved away from Alyssa and the door and went to stand close to him.

"I...hang on..." Auggie said, half to himself. He cursed under his breath.

She could hear the alert sounding off in his headsets and it must have been deafening to him. She watched with fear in her eyes. She'd never seen Auggie so rattled while working. It was as if his deepest, darkest secret had been put out there for the world to see. She turned to the screen where names and various other bits of information scrolled across. Her eyes latched onto one name that sent chills up her spine. Hearn. She was sure it had said Hearn.

One word escaped her lips as she took a half step back. "No."

Auggie's reaction was instant, almost simultaneous with her movement. One hand left the readout and closed around her wrist like a plea, his thumb against her pulse point. "Annie...

She trusted him. Just because it looked that way... Information, leaks, Liza Hearn... Auggie. She did what she could to bring her composure together. There were two people not in on Auggie's secret in the room. They didn't know. They had no reason to suspect. Suspect what? He was innocent. He wouldn't... would _never_ do anything to put the Agency in danger. To put the DPD in danger. To put _her_ in danger. Regardless of what it was, it looked bad scrolling across the screen with her name and his somehow joining them to the same list. With a deep breath she reminded herself that she trusted Auggie more than anyone in the CIA. She trusted Auggie. It became like a mantra.

"What's going on?" Jai demanded.

"We might not have much time. Jenkins may know we've figured out what's going on." She pulled her room card out of her jacket pocket. "Take Alyssa to my room. She should be safe there. I'll find Sullivan and let him know we haven't found anything. Come back here after you get Alyssa settled." Annie picked up the cell phone she'd dropped to the desk earlier and handed it to the girl. "Take this. If you think your life is in danger, speed dial five. At that point it won't matter if the phone is clean or not. Understand?" Alyssa nodded. Jai looked like he wanted to protest. "Go! Come right back here. We're running out of time."

Auggie listened closely for the door to click shut behind them and he wanted desperately to see Annie's face. Was she angry with him all over again? Distrustful? Scared? Her silence worried him worse than if she'd lashed out and hit him. "Annie...?"

"When you met up with Tash at DataTech you said that you buried the lead about the explosion in Iraq." He nodded slowly. It had not been a question. "Can you do that for this?"

"Locally?" he murmured. "I can bury it locally, but not wide spread. Not in the limited-"

"Get to it then. Jai'll be right back." Her voice was more clipped than she meant for it to be and she didn't miss the hurt look cross his face as he turned back to his work at hand. She took a deep breath and returned to her place beside him and squeezed his shoulder gently.

Briefly he reached up and touched her fingers, before returning them right back to the keyboard. "It should take more than a minute." he murmured.

"Good. Then we have to figure out what to do about Mr. Revenge of the Nerd." Annie said.

Auggie chuckled slightly at this and sat back. "Buried," he announced. He turned so that he was facing her direction. "Thank you, Annie, for back there."

She let out a shuddering breath. "Well, I'm getting better and better to lying to people that I care about and respect," she murmured half-heartedly.

Auggie reached forward and took her hands, squeezing them gently. He wanted to apologize more than anything else, for hiding things from her, for putting her in the position where she had to make a choice to lie for him, for putting her in harm's way. But that would be apologizing for doing his job, and for her doing her own. "Annie," he said. His brain seemed to get stuck on her name, stuck between the truth and what would keep her safe.

In the end he simply squeezed her hands again and turned back. His head was pounding by now having not slept well the night before and not having eaten lunch on top of that. He leaned against the desk and propped his face against his hands, rubbing the heels hard against his eyes to, hopefully, relieve some of the pressure that was building behind them. He thought briefly of his doctor back at Langley that fussed at him regularly for the habit, but did not cease. He had to come up with a plan to deal with this. He'd told Jai that he could protect Annie, and damn it all he'd prove it.

* * *

A/N: So, I came in to the finale an hour and fifteen minutes late, but this is hard core. Ahhh!

Don't forget to review =D


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I am exceptionally exhausted while editing this. Wednesdays are killer. I leave my apartment around 8:45AM and don't get back until sometime after 8PM with very little break in between. And today my science lab felt like we should have a flashback to elementary school and go to the zoo. That would be fun, if it weren't Texas heat mixed with long days and being 15-20 minutes late to work. Oi. Stupid lab. Sorry for the rant. All that to say that if I don't catch a blaring mistake in this, I'm terribly sorry. Gabrielle Day and I write these co-written stories on yahoo chat so sometimes our fingers don't always hit the right keys and I don't always catch the mistakes. ^^;

Tonight is unwind night with wine and relaxation. Sorry, homework, you're not cool enough to get done, but this fic is! =D

* * *

Jai and Alyssa walked quickly down the corridor, Jai keeping the young girl in front of him to block a good look at who was with him for anyone coming up from behind. Most of the students and faculty were still in classes or in the cafeteria, so the dorm area was clear. They made it to Annie's room without getting caught and Jai did a quick sweep to make sure no one had been there since Annie showered. "It looks clear. Stay here, keep the door locked. Don't make a sound. Don't let anybody in, and I mean anybody until we come back for you."

Alyssa nodded. "Okay."

Jai left her there and waited for the sound of the clicking lock before heading back to the office. He entered a deserted hallway and froze when the lights went out. Without windows the place was drenched in darkness. Jai felt unnerved and thought briefly that must have been what Auggie lived with day in and day out. It was a wonder the man wasn't more paranoid than he was.

The sound of tapping shoes against linoleum could be heard menacingly from the other end of the hall.

* * *

In the tech room Auggie sat straight, his computer suddenly reading error. "I've lost signal. What happened?"

"The lights are out too," Annie whispered, her voice small in the great nothingness to her own ears. She groped around until she found Auggie's shoulder and clamped down on it. She heard him unfold his cane and stand. "Should we leave your computer here?"

"I've got it on the highest security setting. Don't worry, no one's getting into it."

* * *

Jai crept forward, moving closer to the wall. He wasn't alone, not anymore. He could them breathing, whoever they were. It was behind him before he realized it and a hand clamped down on his shoulder seconds before the fist hit him in the face. He grunted and fell, kicking out his left leg as he went. It connected with his assailants shin, but they were steady and landed another punch as he moved to stand up.

Jai hit the floor hard, the breath rushing from his lungs. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness just enough that he could see the shape of his attacker. He was large and well built. Certainly not Jenkins, but he wouldn't doubt that the thin man had sent the larger one his way. He rolled when a foot came crashing down, aimed at his ribs. He felt another foot slam hard into his back, sending him rolling and coughing. Pain raced through him and he realized that there had been no real follow-through in the kick and the man was all but standing on him now, crushing him down to the cold floor.

He blinked, tried to breathe and couldn't. He couldn't reach behind him to dislodge the leg pinning him down, and a sweep with his own legs gained him nothing. Jai shut his eyes and told himself not think about how much this was going to hurt. In one swift movement, he put his hands under himself and pushed with every ounce of strength he possessed. The muscles in his back pulled in protest, but it was enough to throw the man off balance.

Jai launched himself to one side, driving his elbow into the side of the man's kneecap, which gave way with a satisfying pop. A sharp blow to the base of the skull took the man down the rest of the way.

He leaned heavily on the wall and gave a satisfied look in his large assailant's direction before limping his way towards his original destination. He flinched when he heard a shuffling movement, but realized that part of the clicking was Auggie's cane against the hard flooring.

"Jai?" Annie called out and patted Auggie's shoulder to let him know that she was temporarily leaving his side.

"What happened to you?" Auggie's voice sounded in the darkness.

"Got jumped," Jai managed, waving Annie's worry off with an unseen and therefore somewhat worthless charming smile.

"I take it you lost," Auggie chuckled.

"You should see the other guy." Jai offered.

Annie reached and gingerly touched the quickly swelling spot on his face where he'd been struck. She sucked in air through her teeth. "Hope you gave at least half as good as what you got." She said.

"I'm the one that walked way," the other replied. "You two okay?"

"Yeah, but I think our welcome in the building may have run out," Auggie said lowly. "I have to go back for my laptop before we go see what's going on."

"You think they know?"

"Whoever it is won't come out after this. They'll be more careful than that."

Jai shot him an irritated look, not really caring if he could see it or not. "You don't have to sound so excited about it."

"If you were benched most of the time, you'd take what you could get too." Auggie paused, grinning. "But I guess I didn't just get my ass whooped, so…"

"Again, I happen to be the one standing." Jai pointed out, sounding grouchy. "And I like to see you do better in an ambush." He added under his breath.

Annie stepped forward into the hall, pulling out a pen light. "We should at least take a look at who it is." She said. She walked forward, scanning the light along the ground. "Uh, Jai? There's no body here."

Auggie groped for Annie's hand. "If you've got that light on, shut it off," he hissed, listening carefully to the eerie silence that accompanied them in the seemingly empty hallway.

It stretched on endlessly into the dark both ways and the inky blackness rushed to meet in the middle as the pen was extinguished. "Round two? I think three against one might be a bit better odds," Auggie murmured lightly, placing one hand solidly on the wall behind him.

"He should have been out for a good hour at least," Jai breathed, his voice giving away the uneasiness he felt. "And he shouldn't have been able to just prance away, I took out his knee." he added, moving closer to Auggie and Annie.

"I don't suppose it occurred to you that he had friends?" Auggie said through gritted teeth. He moved himself further around Annie, listening carefully for movement on either side.

Finally his keen ears picked up on a very quiet sound that might have been soft-soled shoes on the hard floor. They'd come prepared.

"I thought you said that they wouldn't come back, Auggie," Annie muttered, steeling herself for the potential battle ahead.

"I have known to be wrong in my clairvoyant tendencies," the other replied. He froze suddenly. "Hear that?" he whispered, his voice barely audible against the suffocating quiet.

"Auggie, duck!" Annie said sharply.

Instead, he half turned and landed a fist against his unseen assailant's solar plexus. They heard the gasp as the person stumbled back, and the thud as they landed against the wall.

Jai moved forward, rushing to take them down only to find the space empty when he got there. He squinted, trying to get some sort of outline, but came up empty. He felt a fist come down on his already sore back and he cursed lowly as he tumbled off balance.

A second came up behind Auggie and the blind agent didn't move quite fast enough. He hit the wall hard and felt all the breath leave his lungs and his head hit with a sickening thud. He sank down against it, his knees buckling and he felt the room swim. He tried to gain his baring, and expected another blow.

A cracking sound echoed through the hall and it grew very silent. "Annie?" he called shakily.

The two men could hear the sound of their blonde companion breathing heavily and Annie gave a half laugh as the lights flickered on. The sound of their assailants' retreat could be heard around the corner. She smirked and tossed her head back, surveying Jai and Auggie. "And you two were worried about me."

Auggie felt himself relax some when Annie's fingers slid into his and she helped pull him to his feet. "Chalk it up to ancient protective instincts."

"Yeah, well you Tarzans got one upped by Jane." Annie said.

Jai rubbed his shoulder, and pushed a deep breath through his nose. "Let me guess...the lack of cameras in the tech office means there won't be cameras anywhere else."

Auggie shook his head. "No. Not inside the buildings, just on the perimeter."

"We should get back to your laptop and check on the...package in my room." Annie said. "Do either of you need a first aid kit?"

Auggie reached a hand to the back of his head. "Maybe some aspirin," he grumbled.

"Yeah, you got the easy end of it," Jai responded. They continued on even through grabbing the laptop - which appeared to have been tampered with, but no one had been able to break through it - and when they stepped out into the open air again.

By the time that Tanner Sullivan approached them they had bickered themselves into a huffy silence. "Are you guys... okay...?" Sullivan asked skeptically, eyeing Jai especially.

"I'm told the lights went off," Auggie piped up. "Jai gets awful clumsy, you know." He heard an exaggerated groan from the man in question.

Sullivan gave a very slow nod, as if he were almost afraid to claim disbelief to the obvious lie. "Officer Jenkins says some really funny things have been going on around here. He asked that the three of you wrap up for the evening, grab dinner in the mess hall, and go to your rooms."

"Yes Mom."

Annie looped her arm through Auggie's and gave him a warning swat. "It's been a long day," she said apologetically to Tanner.

He nodded, his cheeks coloring slightly. "Rain check on dinner then, I guess."

"It'll have to be," she agreed, easily ignoring the shocked look that crossed Auggie and Jai's faces.

"Maybe coffee in the morning?" She asked, eyes wide.

Sullivan couldn't stop a small smile. "Sure. I'll meet you in the cafeteria." Sullivan agreed. "I've got to check on some things regarding Ms. Larson. If you see or hear from her, let me know." He disappeared into the hallway.

"He seemed awfully calm about the whole lights going out incident." Annie murmured.

"Everybody does. No alarms, no red alerts, nothing." Auggie said. "Let's grab dinner before the place gets blown to hell or something." he muttered.

By the time they'd shoved the half-edible substance down their throats Annie assured them that she'd drop by their room later. Right then, she'd check on Alyssa and take a much-needed shower. "And you two... look like you could use some shut eye." She looked at Auggie and the much darker circles under his eyes before patting him affectionately on the shoulder. "Call if you need anything."

* * *

Auggie Anderson all but fell on the small bed at the furthest side of the room, his face buried in a musky-smelling pillow. He hadn't even bothered to pull his messenger bag from his shoulder when he flopped. He heard Jai let out a sigh and shuffle... somewhere. He didn't care. He just wanted to sleep.

Jai hissed softly as he took off his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. He could see the skin on his back in the mirror behind him already darkening from the fight. "Do you want me to bring you some aspirin?" he asked Auggie, unsure if he was already asleep or not. He toed off his shoes and pulled his bag open.

The tech officer gave what Jai thought was an affirmative grunt and he began digging through his bag for said painkillers. "So... your near panic attack earlier that Annie covered for you..."

Auggie shifted slightly at this. "What near panic attack?"

"Listen," Jai said as his fingers finally closed around the bottle. "I'm not insulting your intelligence, so don't insult mine. You school your features better than most agents I've run across, so the fact that you reacted the way you did meant that it was beyond someone finding out you were in their systems." He popped two pills into his mouth and dry swallowed them. "That and the fact that we're back here and not on our way back to Langley. If he'd known, you wouldn't have us stick around." When Auggie didn't respond Jai tossed the pill bottle at him irritably, hitting him in the back of the head with it.

Jai froze as the bottle hit the comforter, horrified. He opened his mouth, apology on his lips. Auggie was quicker. He growled low in his throat, quickly felt around the comforter, closed his fingers around the bottle and launched it back at the other agent with frightening accuracy. Jai barely had time to lift his hand to deflect it. "Auggie..." he said, half way between reasoning and warning.

"No, Wilcox, you listen to me," Auggie growled out, his shoulders set squarely and he looked dangerous where he sat. "I am damn good at my job, whatever that entails. If it requires computers, I can out-hack any hacker in the States and quite a few of the top ones around the world. If it requires hand-to-hand then I can do that too. Losing my sight did not make me an invalid."

"Auggie, I know-"

"And if you patronize me I'm going to finally forget my self-restraint that I've been using since you got in the car this morning and add to the bruises you've already got."

"You're kidding right? I'm just as trained as you are, Anderson, and have spent more time in the field. I respect what you can do despite your disability, but I'm always going to be the field agent, and you're always going to be the tech guy." Jai snapped. He threw the pill bottle back to Auggie's bed and it grazed his leg. "Take your damn aspirin."

Auggie let out a frustrated snort as he reached for the pills. "Least I earned everything I have. I didn't ride Daddy's coattails into and through the Agency."

"What makes you think I had it so easy? You just make assumptions like everybody else. You don't like people pitying you, but you sure are willing to use the high and mighty act, aren't you? You've overcome so damn much and it makes you so much more noble when the truth is you're just a working schmuck like the rest of us. You just try to use it to get what you want, including women in to bed." Jai said. He paused and his lip curled, not quite a smile. "Is that what you're trying with Annie?"

Jai had moved closer while speaking. Auggie could tell by his voice. He knew that he was baiting him, trying to hit him where it hurt. It worked. Auggie didn't suppose he even knew that he'd thrown the first punch until after he felt his knuckles collide solidly with Jai's already bruised face and heard the surprised agent fall back against the bed across from his. If anything, he hadn't expected the accuracy. Funny, Auggie hadn't either.

Jai briefly considered the moral consequences of punching a blind man, and then he didn't. He pushed himself forward off the bed and curved his hand into a fist, his closed fingers striking Auggie across the jaw and sending the agent stumbling back. "You're going to get careless, you know." Jai said, rubbing his jaw, eyeing Auggie warily for another attack.

"Like you?" Auggie demanded. He looked as if he were battling within himself if he should take an other swing or not. They were in very close quarters, which gave Jai less of an advantage. He'd heard Annie explain before how Auggie had taught her to fight at close range. It was knowledge that had saved her life more than once since then. Finally, after several very long, very tense moments, Auggie's muscles relaxed slightly. "I know you're running an op on Annie."

"Please be less dramatic, Auggie. I'm not running an op on her any more than you are." Jai said, sitting back down on the bed. He watched Auggie's face carefully. No one could have known about his assignment from Arthur'; it certainly hadn't been discussed by any electronic channels Auggie could have come across. Not that Auggie didn't have a point. He was going to get careless if he let his growing care for Annie get in the way of finding out what he could about Mercer.

"Liar," the tech op hissed.

"Prove it," the other answered easily.

Auggie stood from where he'd fallen on the bed. "Everyone in on the Mercer case now knows that Annie must have been brought in for her connection to him. That much is obvious, but what isn't obvious is the fact that you were called in from England to play a minor role in the DPD at Arthur Campbell's personal request and without Joan's consent. It's not a stretch, knowing your history with Mercer, to think that you were brought in for that knowledge and told to get close to Annie." He paused, listening hard. "Am I getting close yet, Wilcox?"

Jai's smile never wavered, even though Auggie couldn't see it. "So how long have you been in on the Mercer case, August? And how has that discussion with Annie gone? Wait, let me guess, despite the fact that your her best friend and her super secret agent advisor, you haven't told her that you know more about her than she realizes. So which one of us is really stringing her along, Auggie? Or is Liza just not enough for you to handle?"

Auggie froze, his sleep-deprived brain finally betraying him. Why had Liza's name just come from Jai's mouth? Finally it hit him: Jai worked for Arthur, and he let a breath out that he hadn't realized that he was holding in. Of course Jai knew. Arthur had probably not been happy when this mission had come up, but had no good reason to keep Joan from keeping him in DC. They were still awaiting Liza's response to the story that he'd given her, and now he wasn't there to receive it. Arthur had probably manipulated the situation so that Jai was keeping his eye on him as well. No wonder Joan didn't trust her husband. "Annie knows about Liza," he said at last. "And she knows most of what I do about Mercer. Except for you. That's yours to tell her."

"Keep yourself in check and try not to get her killed. Besides, what could you offer her in the long run?" Jai asked. He went into the bathroom and shut the door behind him, before he lost any more cards to this hand. He knew he hadn't acknowledged anything, but Auggie always did have a way of knowing too much. Or knowing just enough to be dangerous. Jai started the water running and braced his hands on the edge of the sink while he waited for the water to warm. They were running out of time, he knew that much.

Auggie sat outside listening to the water run behind the closed door. Any strength that he might have had left was quickly leaving him and he slowly peeled his vest off and tossed it in the general direction of where his bag was set on the floor. He would find it in the morning and put it up properly. For tonight it was everything he could manage to do to change into shorts to sleep in and swallow the almost-forgotten aspirin that had originally been offered in a kind manner. Finally he found the edge of the sheets and pulled them back, unlatching his watch from his wrist and running his fingers along the settings on it until it read out an alarm time for the morning. He'd take a shower in the morning, but as for tonight his goal was to be sound asleep by the time that Jai returned from his shower. His head was throbbing and his jaw was as well now as he pulled the sheets up around his shoulders.

He squeezed his eyes shut, pretending for just a second that if he opened them again the world would be alive with color and shapes and that the scent of Jo Malone Grapefruit would have a face to match and a place next to him, always

* * *

A/N: Poor Auggie... Reviews will make the day better. Please review =D


	5. Chapter 5

Auggie had hoped not to dream that night. Even if he'd gone to sleep with Annie in his thoughts, he knew that the dangerous situations, harsh words, and almost out of control emotions were enough to keep any hope of keeping the nightmares away out of his reach. The flames licked at him again, exploding in a bright white light. A dog on the side of the road and laughter as they joked inside the humvee. He looked up and saw Annie by it and he tried to call for her not to touch it. He tried so hard, but his voice was lost to the sound of his world exploding and her screams died in his ears.

Jai woke to the sound of Auggie tossing and turning in the bed a few feet away. He gave a frustrated growl at being woken at the late hour and half believed that the tech operative had done it on purpose. "Shut up, Auggie," he grumbled, half into his pillow and half at the other man.

He was startled when a scream erupted from the younger man and he came flying out of bed. Jai lay there in silence for a moment, the sound of Auggie's ragged breathing the only sound in the dark. He was half afraid to move, not wanting to trigger an instinctive out lash. Even if Auggie couldn't see him moving, he would hear it. He had learned that the hard way just a few hours ago. He took a breath and sat up slowly, eyes on the younger man. He opened his mouth to call out softly to him, then changed his mind. Most men didn't like their nightmares, and they didn't like other people intruding upon them either.

Auggie turned in his direction, his hollow gaze for once making Jai's blood run cold. Neither of them said anything.

Several long moments passed and Auggie's breathing continued to hitch and gasp out as he turned to put his forehead against his bent knees. He couldn't seem to control his own body as it shook and the image of a beautiful blonde woman leaning down to inspect the dog that had ended the life that he had once known danced through his mind eye and refused to leave him alone. A sob caught his throat and he dug the heels of his hands into his sightless eyes as if the image might flee if he rubbed at them hard enough.

Jai knew then what the dream had involved. He'd had them too, though not yet about her. He stood, pulled on a t-shirt, and slipped out of the room. The lights were dim in the hallway and there was no one to be seen. He stopped in front of Annie's door, hesitated for one moment, then knocked lightly. Seconds ticked by and he heard movement from within.

"Annie, it's me, Jai." He called quietly.

The door opened. "Jai?" Annie was rumpled from sleep, dressed in a t-shirt and sleep shorts and barefoot.

Jai told himself he wasn't going to regret this. "It's Auggie." He said simply, handing her the key to their room. "I'll keep watch over Alyssa."

Annie snatched the key from his fingers and was down the hall without another word. She was instantly awake, fear tugging at her insides as she walked briskly to Auggie's room and let herself in. She stood pressed against the door for a moment while her eyes adjusted. Annie could see the outline of him, sitting up in the bed, knees against his chest and his hands pressed against his eyes. She wasn't sure if he was shaking. "Auggie?" she whispered.

He looked up instantly and called her name. His voice was small, shaking and he shifted so that he was sitting on his knees instantly, inches closer to her. She covered the short distance between them before he could crawl out of the bed and try to find where her voice had come from. His hands clutched out at her and he could smell the faintest traces of her perfume. In the dim light that shown under the door Annie could see a look of horror on his face and she pulled him close.

"Hey, what's going on?" she whispered desperately into his ear, her fingers tangling in his hair as she stroked it soothingly.

His breath hitched as he tried to answer and simply clung to her, burring his face in the crook of her neck. "You're alive," he managed to gasp out. "You're okay."

She squeezed gently. "Of course I am." She reassured. "Hey, you can't get rid of me that easy."

"It's just...you couldn't hear me...I couldn't...couldn't reach you," Auggie said, the words tumbling out before he could even think to stop them. "Annie..."

Annie pressed a kiss to the side of his head and cradled his face in her hands. "Hey, listen to me. I'm right here. You have saved me more times than you even know, Auggie." she whispered. "I trust you."

Tears fell from his eyes before he could stop them and Annie held him, rocking and whispering encouragement. He grew quiet after a few moments and she heard him sniff and pull away slightly. "You want to talk about it?" she ventured uncertainly.

"I... I was in Iraq again, but so were you. I couldn't reach you." He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself before he got worked up all over again. Slowly his brain came down out of its frenzied state and he felt Annie's soft hands clinging tightly to his own. He wasn't even sure how she'd gotten there. After a moment he voiced the question, feeling a bit foolish for all the trouble.

Annie wondered if he realized he was rubbing small circles in the palms of her hands with his thumbs. "Jai came and got me. We, ah, switched for the night." It was mostly true. Annie had no intention of leaving Auggie alone with his nightmares, at least while she could be the one to be there for him. She frowned thoughtfully and reached out with one hand, taking Auggie's jaw gently between her fingers and tipping it slightly. "You didn't have this bruise from earlier, did you?" she asked, staring at the dark spot on his face.

Auggie didn't answer, but reached up and caught her hand with the one she'd let go of. "Annie?" he whispered.

"Yes?"

"Can I touch your face?"

He was trying to get around the question. She _knew_ he was trying to get around the question.She let her breath out in the form of a soft snort. "Cheater."

"What?" he asked defensively, a hint of a smile perking his lips.

She took his hand and carefully laid it against her cheek. His fingertips danced lightly over her smooth skin and finally rested on her lips. A blush crept to her cheeks and she leaned forward, not even knowing that she was until her lips met his. He stiffened at first, surprised, but then wrapped his arms around her lean frame and leaned into the kiss.

Auggie knew this was very not good in more ways than his brain was able to quantify at that particular moment, but as he twisted his fingers in her soft, blonde hair and felt her heartbeat every time he touched her skin, he couldn't bring himself to stop. When they finally broke the kiss, both slightly breathless, foreheads pressed together, Auggie simply whispered, "Stay."

Annie nodded, her nose brushing his. "I will."

Auggie sighed deeply, breathing in everything that was Annie. He felt her gently easing him back down towards the pillow and following after him, snuggled against his chest. "Auggie?"

"Hmm?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"What question?"

She propped herself up so that her hair tickled his jaw line and she leaned down and kissed him again. "What was all the ruckus in here earlier?"

"Would you believe that in this unfamiliar setting after a really stressful day that I, for a brief moment, lost my sense of spatial awareness tripped over my duffle bag and fell on my face?" Auggie asked earnestly, fingers reaching out to connect with her shoulder and stroke the skin there.

"Oh, good one. No." Annie said with a grin. Her grin faded as she studied his face. He didn't have to tell her; she could guess. Plus, she had seen Jai's face in the light of the hallway as she'd run out. "It's nice to know you can practice what you preach when you're training me to hit at close range." she said.

Auggie chuckled. "It's the dodging part I seem to have trouble with nowadays."

"Jai too, apparently. What happened?" She reached up and her fingers trailed very lightly over the bruise.

"Exhaustion, stress, him pushing every button he could find... It's been coming since he was transferred in."

"Really?" Annie asked, genuinely surprised. "You hide it well."

"Have to," he murmured and kissed the top of her head. "So I guess this means that you're not going to Jai's place in the Hamptons, huh?"

Her face scrunched up. "Jai's place in the Hamptons? When was I going there?" she asked.

Auggie couldn't stop the grin from forming. "Does that mean you wouldn't go if he asked you to?"

Annie laid back down, head against his chest. For a moment she considered teasing him with it, but realized she didn't want to do anything but tell him the truth. "No. Never." she said simply.

The grin spread and Auggie wrapped an arm around her. Jai's words echoed in the back of his mind but he ignored them to the best of his ability. The Liza case was nearly over and Annie was quickly drifting to sleep in his arms that night. On the heels of one of his worst nightmares one of his happiest dreams seemed to be on the verge of coming true. "You think Alyssa will be okay with Jai for the night?" he murmured tiredly.

"She'll probably start pumping him for information about you," Annie laughed. "Girl wouldn't go to sleep. She wanted to know everything about you. You have you own personal fan club right there."

"All over an alleged hacking job."

"Did you do it?" Annie whispered.

"I would tell you, Anne..." Images from the dream flashed through his mind and the phrase died on his lips. "I would tell you, dearest Annie, but then I would have to run a pair of your underwear up the flagpole in front of Langley."

She laughed aloud. "Well that wouldn't do at all." she grinned. "I think you did it. I know you could."

"Your faith keeps me going." Auggie said with a smile.

They fell asleep in each other's arms shortly after that, and weren't awakened until the steady rap of knuckles could be hard on the door. Annie shifted in her place where she'd fallen asleep on Auggie's chest and finally rolled out of bed.

Jai stood, looking very tired, and half glared at her. "It's time to get going for the morning," he rumbled, sounding as if he'd barely slept. "You think I might get to my clothes?"

Annie nodded and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. She watched Jai rustled through his bag and disappear into the bathroom without saying a word. Annie knew he was upset, but she was certain he would get over it, and if he didn't she couldn't worry.

Sitting on the side of the bed, she half turned and patted Auggie's chest. He automatically brought a hand up and caught her fingers, his eyes opening slowly. "Hey," she said, smiling, "I've got to go get ready. Jai's here."

Auggie gave a grown to that and squeezed her hand. "Morning already?" he murmured, memories flooding back. He'd wanted to live in that dream world where Annie would be forever close to him. He wasn't sure he was ready to return to reality where he had to work through webs of security and find who had initiated the leak into and out of the Farm for the potential harm of their students. "You can't stay a few more minutes?" he murmured and tried to pull her back to the bed.

"Well I could, but Jai might take a picture and then we'd be office gossip. All though, according to some of the girls, we're already office gossip..." Annie pretended to muse. She leaned over him and kissed the side of his face, his forehead, and finally pressed a kiss to his lips.

"The prettiest people always make a stir," Auggie murmured as she pulled away.

She snorted. "You sound like my sister," she grumbled. "I'd suggest you get up before Jai finishes changing."

"Probably a good idea." He took hold of her wrist before she could pull fully away and tugged her into a soft kiss. She melted into it, unable to pull away, and he smiled into it. "Annie," he whispered as they parted. "You know I care about you, right? This isn't... This isn't just mindless flirting. I really care about you." He heard the words leave his mouth, all the while realizing that he was really putting himself on the line.

For a split second she was on a beach, in Sri Lanka, similar words echoing in her ears, but when she took a breath to brace herself for the mental image of Ben, it never came. She smiled, genuine happiness warming her from the inside and she cupped his face in her hands. "I know." she whispered. "Auggie, I..." The bathroom door opened and she dropped her hands. She briefly squeezed his hand and stood as Jai came out of the bathroom. "I'm going to get ready." Annie said. "I'm going to track down Sullivan for our coffee meet and see if I can't get any more information about Jenkins out of him. Or maybe he knows which students freelance as hired goons." She edged towards the door. "I'll meet you guys in a couple of hours?"

"Exactly two, please." Auggie said. "No more."

"Two. No more," she promised and was out the door before Jai had a chance to say anything.

Auggie could feel the elder man's eyes trained directly on him and he finally shifted out of the bed. "You done with the bathroom?" he asked as if nothing had happened.

"Yeah. I'm done." Jai said, folding his worn clothes and placing them back in his duffle. He resisted the urge to trip Auggie as he passed him on the way to the bathroom. There was no need to be completely childish about the situation.

"Did you get anything out of Alyssa?" Auggie asked. "You'll have to speak up," he added as he shut the bathroom door.

Jai glared at the door as he spoke. "She worships the ground you walk on. Happy?" he replied, voice clipped and irritable.

"Well that's useless," Auggie answered from inside, and the water started in the shower.

There was no need to be childish, but Jai had his limits. He pulled on his sweater, pocketed his wallet and left the room. Auggie could find his own damn way around for the next two hours.

Auggie heard the door shut and let out a sigh of relief and rested his head against the cool tiles of the shower wall. Maybe if they didn't have to be near one another ever again they'd make it out of this in one piece. If he were lucky, they could avoid each other until the ride home, and maybe, if he were lucky, he could convince Annie that Jai should grab a flight back to DC... Or not. He smiled at the thought of Annie lecturing him on getting along with Jai and how cute he was sure that her angry face was. He'd give the world to actually see it.

* * *

By the time that Jai Wilcox walked into the tech room from the day before, Auggie was already seated and typing away. His screen was reading out data so fast that the elder man could barely read it. "Finally find your way in here, Jai?" Auggie greeted.

"I had some things to take care of." Jai said. "What have you got?"

Auggie grinned, and the phrase a really hot blond chick came to mind, but he figured he'd save their next drop down drag out fight for later in the afternoon. "All in good time, grasshopper, all in good time." Truth be told, he wasn't coming up with a hell of a lot. Whoever was siphoning in the information had done a very good job of covering their tracks, and whoever was picking it up was just as good. But he was getting closer. "I'm closing in on them, but not quite there yet," he murmured, half to himself.

He heard Jai shift behind him and continue to move around the room as he worked. Finally, the expensive shoes stopped clicking and Auggie heard the other man clear his throat. "So did you sleep with her?" Jai asked bluntly.

"Yes." Auggie responded. Auggie could almost hear Jai's bones creak as the other man stiffened. His lips twitched, but he forced back the smile. "Maybe you can take Alyssa to your place in the Hamptons instead." he added.

"You're a sorry bastard, you know that?" Jai said at last, his voice low and even.

Auggie shrugged. "You're the one that switched with her for the night. I assumed you thought you could get something out of Alyssa."

Jai's shoes clicked until he got closer and Auggie didn't have time to react before he reached up and pulled his headsets from his ears. "I left because you woke me up with your pathetic cries," he hissed, eyeing Auggie's expression carefully.

Auggie stood abruptly, bringing the two agents almost nose to nose with one another. "You're a damn sore loser, Wilcox. Of course, coming from such a loser it isn't a wonder."

"A loser? So it's just a competition to you? Just another op? If you're not running one behind someone's back you're trying to screw up another you've made up in that dark little head of yours." Jai growled. "She only came to you because she felt sorry for you. That's all she'll ever feel for you, Anderson. Sorry."

"I'd rather her feel sorry for me than have her feel the disgust she's going to feel for you one day." Auggie said

"You think I don't care about her?" Jai hissed, eyes flashing with anger.

"You think I don't love her?" Auggie countered, half shocked at his own admission, but the emotion never reaching his face

Jai actually laughed. "Isn't that romantic. Does that mean you'll be thinking of her when you're banging Liza?"

"Wow, that's mature, Jai," Annie's voice rang out as her heels echoed on he tile flooring. She slid the door closed behind her, bringing with her the smell of grapefruit and coffee.

"I'm not the one who has to live with it." Jai said. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to check on our asset, since you have Mr. Anderson so well in hand." Jai stormed out of the tech office without a backwards glance. Annie stood there for a long moment, telling herself that it wasn't true and even if it was that it didn't matter. The information he stood to gain from Liza could save lives, hundreds of them, her feelings weren't more important than national security. "I brought coffee," she offered, hoping she sounded normal.

Auggie started towards her, his steps slow and deliberate as he'd left his white cane folded on the desk. He reached a hand out for her as he was sure that he was getting close and she grasped it, setting the coffee to the side. He pulled her in and embraced her. He buried his nose in her hair for several long moments and just breathed her in. Finally, he pulled away and he heard her let out a long, low breath. "It's almost over with Liza," he promised lowly. "I think we're at the end of it."

"How do you know?" she murmured. "Did she give something up?"

"Hopefully she's about to. I can't go into it, but..."

"It's okay." Annie said. "If you say so, I believe you." Her mantra. Trust Auggie. "At least your first in line for my coffee run while we're here." She said.

He slid a hand to the back of her neck, brushing his thumb behind her ear. "Annie..."

"How much longer do you think it will take to trace the leak here? Especially if Jenkins is wise to us?" she asked.

He gave a sigh. Business first, then they'd deal with what was quickly developing between them.

Auggie returned to his chair and motioned for her to follow. "Coffee's at your ten o'clock," she warned and peered over his shoulder.

"I'm finding links slowly, but whoever is doing this has some pretty high connections."

"You don't think it has anything to do with the leaks in the DPD, do you?" Annie murmured.

Auggie opened his mouth to answer but the sound of the door slamming open and then shut again startled him into silence. "Alyssa's gone," Jai's voice filled the room.

"Did she leave a note?" Auggie asked dryly.

"You going to wisecrack over her body when they find it?" Jai asked.

"Was there evidence she was taken by force?" Annie asked.

"No." Jai said. "Don't forget where we are. There wouldn't necessarily be any evidence."

Annie felt a chill. "We should look for her."

"One of us should look for her. We can't leave him here alone."

"I'm really not sure how to take that," Auggie grumbled. "If you think she's in trouble, both of you should look. Otherwise you're just standing here and talking about it." He paused leaning back slightly in his seat and folded his hands behind his head, stretching. "I'd offer to help, but, somehow I don't think I'm much good in a search party."

"We'll check back every so often." Jai said. He pulled a cell phone out his pocket and slid it across the desk to him. "If you need anything." Jai headed back towards the door.

Annie hesitated, the thought of leaving Auggie making her nervous.

"I'll be fine, Annie," Auggie assured her when he didn't hear her heels tapping.

"Oh I know," she murmured hastily.

"Watch your back," Auggie called after them as he listened to their retreating steps. He pulled his headsets back into place and continued his search, doing his best to put the young trainee out of his thoughts. With Annie and Jai both looking they were sure to find her. She'd grown very attached to them in a very short time and he'd hate to see anything happened to her.

His train of thought was broken and he had to reread his readouts. His eyes widened and he felt a knot form in his stomach. A hand on Auggie's shoulder caused him to jump and he ripped his headsets from his ears. A newly familiar chuckle reached his ears. "Looks like you put it together, huh?" she asked lowly.

Auggie took a breath and allowed a concealing smile to cross his face. "Gotta admit, I didn't see that one coming, Miss Larson."

* * *

A/N: Did **_you _**see that coming? =D please review!


	6. Chapter 6

"Gotta admit, I didn't see that one coming, Miss Larson."

"Your self depreciating humor is one of the things I genuinely like about you, Mr. Anderson. It must have helped you immensely during your recovery. Imagine the agent you could have been. The possibilities would have been unlimited." She pulled the chair next to his out of arm's reach and sat down.

Auggie tilted his head, following the sound. "I could say the same for you."

He could hear the smile in her voice. "Oh. My possibilities _are_ endless_," _she countered and he heard her reach towards the desk. He assumed that she'd taken the phone, but it wasn't like he was in a position to call in reinforcements. "Just so you know, I do have a gun on you," she murmured, almost as an afterthought.

Auggie let out a sigh, but appeared relaxed for the situation. "So do I at least get to hear the reason behind all the smoke and mirrors?"

"What I told you about admiring your work is true. Ever since I was a teenager I thought you were the best and I strived to learn everything I could. I even tried to pull off a stunt like yours. I'm sorry, your supposed stunt. Not on as large a scale, obviously, and either way it failed. The only thing I succeeded in was not getting caught." She said. She sounded wistful, as if those were better times.

"You didn't get caught by police, you mean." Auggie surmised.

Alyssa smiled. "Spot on. I was a blip on somebody's radar."

"Jenkins."

"He admired my work. Said he could help me perfect it. I told him that I'd studied your work and he said that that was where I'd gone wrong."

"Do you believe him?" Auggie's voice was even and calm as he stared in her general direction. An alert began to beep on his computer and he raised his hands to check the readouts.

"Yes." Alyssa said, watching his fingers translate complex information faster than most sighted people could skim through a Twitter list. "Because even before you were blind you limited yourself."

Auggie's fingers paused. "Really?" he asked quietly and reached to the keyboard, his fingers flying as he spoke. "How's that?" He heard her shift.

"You have a moral compass." She said simply as she stood. "I think that's enough. Remove your fingers from the keyboard, please. It hardly matters now, but it would be a shame to kill you before the grand finale. And it would be a shame not to be able to say goodbye to the pretty Ms. Walker." She leaned closer, eyes scanning the data. "What the hell is that?" she murmured and then her eyes grew wide. "Stop it now!"

Auggie gave a small smirk and sat back, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "If you insist."

"Undo it!" She snapped.

Auggie gave her a look that he hoped was pointed in her direction. "Really? That's the best you can do? Undo it yourself, if you think you can. Although, a complete system meltdown from inside the Farm is sure to have already attracted somebody's attention somewhere. How long have you been sleeping with Jenkins? Did he convince you that he loved you and that the two of you could have the world by trying to one up me? Do you know how many lives you've put on the line, Alyssa?"

She huffed, sounding on the verge of a tantrum. "What do you know?" she hissed. "You don't know anything. They benched you because you weren't any good anymore. They shouldn't have even kept you on at the Agency."

Auggie shook his head. "Listen, as much as I'd love to sit around here all day and hear you throw half-assed insults my way, I really do have better things to do." He stood and reached out for his cane.

"Sit down!" Alyssa growled at him, her voice wavering and uncontrolled. "I have a gun."

"So you've said," he answered her easily.

"I'll shoot you," she swore, eyes wide. "You don't believe me?"

Auggie shrugged and unfolded his cane. "Sorry, kiddo, but somehow you just don't strike up a very intimidating image in my mind."

"Don't." Alyssa warned. "Cam won't want it this way."

Auggie walked towards the door, step never faltering. "Kid," he said, "I looked hell in the eyes. After that, you don't scare me one bit." He half turned toward her, and she fired.

Auggie felt himself jerk to the left as the bullet hit high on his arm, no doubt leaving a bloody gash in its wake. He snorted in disgust. "A bit of advice, Alyssa, don't second guess yourself if you're going to shoot someone. It throws your aim off."

* * *

Alarms began going off throughout the building, signaling that Auggie's imposed system crash had indeed been noticed, although to the unsuspecting students it was just a fire drill.

The loud sound made Annie jump and she turned and looked to Jai just as his cell phone rang. Students poured into the hall and Jai had to press his finger to his ear to hear. "Yeah? Yeah. You're not serious." Jai shot a glance at Annie. "I'll take care of it." He hung up. "Auggie's in trouble."

"What?" Annie demanded.

Sullivan appeared through the throng and grabbed her arm. "I can't find Jenkins anywhere. He said something about this finally being the time to leave his mark, that his work would rise like a phoenix. What the hell is going on?"

"We underestimated Alyssa apparently," Jai murmured.

"Alyssa?" Sullivan echoed. "What's going on? Listen, this whole departments gone to hell since you people showed up, and I think I have a right to"

"You want to do something, Tanner? Get out of here, make sure the students are safe, and call this into Langley," Annie told him firmly. "Make sure it lands on the DPD's desk."

"What's the DPD?" he asked, eyes wide and confused.

"Joan or Arthur Campbell, either one," Jai said. "Just do it."

Tanner nodded, still thoroughly confused as he darted off.

Jai turned to tell Annie that they didn't have any time to lose, but the statement seemed needless when his eyes caught the movement of Cameron Jenkins behind her, heading for the tech lab.

"Jenkins!" he barked. The man turned, waved at them with a hand holding a gun, and broke into a run. Jai cursed as he and Annie both started trying to get through the sea of students. "Move!" Annie shouted. The students didn't look impressed and continued on unhurriedly. They'd been through a dozen drills, and figured the young woman shouting at them was just another test set up by the faculty.

* * *

Auggie leaned against a nearby desk, halfway sitting on it. He knew that the likely hood of him going out through the hordes of students and finding his companions were close to zero if not into the negatives, but Alyssa's whimpering was grating on his last nerve. He'd taken the gun away and heard her collapse to the floor in a fit of sobs. Jenkins name could be heard in between some of the babbling and Auggie almost felt sorry for her. Almost. He reached a careful hand up to poke at the gash running deeply along his upper left arm and let out a low hiss. He rubbed the blood between his fingers and sighed. That was going to leave a mark.

The door slammed open and Auggie jumped. "Annie?" he asked before he could stop himself.

Jenkins sneer was all that greeted him. "No." A second shot rang out and Auggie braced himself for the wave of pain that never came. Seconds ticked by and he realized he could no longer hear Alyssa crying. He began to feel slightly disoriented. "Cameron..." he wasn't sure if it was a question or not.

"Spare me. I should have known better than to involve such an emotional child." Auggie heard a faint hiss and realized it was the sound of a lighter. "This is far more dramatic than I'd hoped for. But it will do. Your name will be an embarrassment on the lips of every agent from here unto eternity."

Auggie stood, reaching out. "Cameron don't. If you do this to make me an embarrassment, what will you become?"

"Obscurity. But never fear, Auggie dearest. A part of me will live on forever."

He could hear the smirk in Jenkins' voice as he spoke. "I'll lay it out for you, Auggie, so you know. The fuse is short and the explosion will bring this building down. You won't have time to get out."

Auggie felt his breath catch and he started feeling the desk behind him. He reached out for the next one, hoping and praying that he was moving in the right direction. "So you and me to the death? How classic of you." he murmured, sliding carefully along the edges. "The two archrivals out in a blaze of glory. Too bad I'll still go down as the smarter of the two."

"Not just the two of us, August. I'm pretty sure your little pets are still in the building. Only seconds left, now."

Auggie felt his heart sink, but he never let it show. "Hey, I'll give you a bit of advice about explosions."

"You do know all about them," Jenkins sneered.

The blind tech op felt a smirk pull at his lips. He'd found the door at least. "Don't look into the light." He heard the sound of the explosive sizzling and threw himself out the door.

Jenkins snarled, rolled the bomb away from him and tackled Auggie before he could reach safety. Jenkins landed on top of the tech and Auggie struggled to right himself to get some leverage. Time ran out and the bomb went off. In the distance, Auggie thought he could hear Annie scream.

He felt the burst of heat and heard the roar of the explosion in his ears. Part of his mind flashbacked to his last couple moments of sight and he heard both he and Jenkins' voices as the fire licked at them.

* * *

Annie felt Jai tug her down as debris flew all around them. He covered her, shielded her, and she heard what sounded like her own voice screaming Auggie's name. He'd been in that room, she knew. He was in that room and the flames were coming from it. Tears streamed her face as she called his name again.

Jai held her with one arm and shielded his eyes with his other as he stared at the mess that had become the tech office and that side of the building. He cursed under his breath and Annie began to struggle against him. "Annie, stop! He's just...Annie!"

Annie heard him and her mind instantly denied the possibility of it. Jai was bringing them to a stand, pulling her away from the fire, away from where Auggie had been. "Let go of me!" she growled. Jai had both arms around her now, pulling her away. She pushed at him and finally swung her elbow back into his chest. He grunted, but refused to let go. "Auggie! Auggie!" she screamed. There was no response from down the hall and she sagged against Jai. He stared down at her, took in the heartbroken expression on her face and the pain in her cries. He let her go.

Annie shot off without hesitation as soon as she felt his arms dropped. The end of the hall was in flames, the roof caving in and the walls leaning on one another. Various bits of debris was scattered from the explosion and Annie buried her nose in the crook of her arm against the smell. "Auggie!" she called, tears streaming down her face. "Auggie!" Finally her eyes landed on something familiar. It looked like a piece of the white cane that Auggie used outside of Langley.

"No!" Annie reached out for it and reeled back from the heat.

* * *

A/N: Okay, don't kill me. ^^; I will update... hopefully soon. Gabrielle Day is actually coming to visit tonight and for the weekend, so we're going to attempt to write while in the same room. I told her that means that all our in-between comments can actually be made verbally. What a concept. So we do plan to write (and we are ahead of what I'm posting, so it's really just a matter of having a second to copy, paste, glance, and then post.) Hopefully.

Please review!


	7. Chapter 7

Auggie slowly came around, and his world was dark and full of smoke and heat and pain. He was back, God help him, he was back in the same place. Maybe he'd dreamed the rest of it. Recovering, the Agency, Annie, it was all a dream as he lay dying. Slowly his brain registered tile under his fingers, not sand. The pain in his arm brought back the memory of the first gunshot and Annie screaming his name as the world imploded.

"Annie?" he gasped, trying to roll on his side. Quite frankly, he decided, he'd reached his quota of lifetime explosions. "Annie!"

Annie heard raspy sound and her eyes blurred with tears. She moved against the heat, no care for her hands as it burned her, and pulled some of the debris away. Auggie lay just a few feet beyond her, trying to pull himself up. Blood pooled beneath him from various injuries and he was shaking as he tried to sit up. Jenkins lay just beyond him and Annie wasn't sure if he was alive. She covered the space between she and Auggie and knelt next to him. "Auggie," she whispered, hands against his face and smoothing back his hair.

"Annie," he whispered back, relieved and terrified by her presence. "Annie, you have to get out of here."

"We will, we will. Just hang on." she said, forcing confidence into her voice. Her fingers skimmed his body, checking for injuries. "Just hang in there, okay?" she said desperately.

"I'm okay," he murmured. He hissed as her fingers hit injury after injury.

"We'll check him when we get out of here," Jai said, suddenly by them and leaning to take hold of one of the younger man's arms.

Auggie sucked in a breath, biting back a cry of pain. "Jenkins?" he managed through gritted teeth

"Dead." Jai said firmly. "We don't have much time. This is going to hurt."

Auggie nodded. Annie put his other arm around her shoulders and they picked their way towards safety. "What happened to Alyssa?" Jai asked.

"Dead. Jenkins shot her." Auggie said through gritted teeth.

"A waste."

"It's over now." Annie murmured. "We're almost done."

Three agents stumbled out of the burning tech lab, coughing and sputtering against the smoke inhalation. Jai finally stopped when he was sure that, if the building she give a second round of explosions, they'd be out of harm's way. Very carefully he and Annie eased Auggie down and Jai took a seat next to the tech operative. Auggie sat still, looking as if he were focusing more on breathing in and out in a continuous pattern than anything else.

"Calvary is on its way." Jai said quietly.

Annie kneeled in front of Auggie, re-taking inventory of his injuries now that she was quite so panic-stricken. She cringed at the sight of the bullet wound on his arm, but was grateful it was just a graze. "Auggie, were you shot anywhere else?" she asked quietly.

He shook his head silently, teetering off to one side until Annie caught him. She moved so that she was sitting on the opposite side of him than Jai and he lay his head down against her shoulder, letting out a long breath. Everything still burned and he was sure that he'd be feeling it for sometime yet. Surprisingly enough, Jenkins' last-ditch effort to make sure that he died had probably saved his life, as the tackle had at least partially shielded him from the blast.

"There was a lot of blood in the hallway," Annie pressed gently and Auggie felt her fingers roam over him for anything unseen.

"Shrapnel, from the explosion," he murmured tiredly.

Satisfied he wouldn't bleed out from anything unseen before medical assistance arrived, Annie curled her fingers in his hair and held him steady. Her mind whirled, possibilities and motives clicking through her mind. She dismissed them all nearly instantly. It didn't seem likely that the leaks here were connected to the DPD, it was solely Jenkins and Alyssa laying a trap that backfired terribly. At least, Annie hoped it was a backfire. She couldn't imagine that Jenkins had just planned for all of them to die all along.

Auggie lifted a tired hand up and his fingers trailed along her cheek momentarily. "You okay?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah. Jai and I missed the brunt." She glanced over to where Jai was averting his glance, either through a stifled jealousy or respect of a private moment between them. She really wasn't sure which it was. She opened her mouth to say more, but the sound of Sullivan's voice cut her off.

"I got a hold of the people you...said... to..." His voice trailed off as he surveyed the damage. "What the hell?"

"The good news is, we found and stopped the leak. The bad news is, there may or may not be a hole in your roof." Auggie said.

"I...you blew up half the building in the two minutes I was gone." Sullivan said, disbelief in his voice.

"Technically, Jenkins blew up the building. And himself." Annie said.

"The other bad news is you might be temporarily out of a job." Jai arched an eyebrow. "Or you could be getting a promotion."

Sullivan looked horrified at the flippant manner that they were speaking in. His face paled considerably and he heard his name called by what was probably a superior from another division within the Farm.

"Wow," Annie breathed, watching him totter off, still shocked. "Poor kid would never make it in the field."

"Oh, let him get over the shock and the feeling of helplessness before you condemn him to a desk career. He'll get a shot of adrenaline later that will have him hopping fences and leaping across rooftops in no time." Auggie said. They sat in silence for a moment. Jai started laughing, Annie and Auggie joining him.

After a long moment Auggie grumbled a curse under his breath, shifting his weight and sitting a little straighter. "What?" Annie asked, worry flashing across her features.

"My computer was in there," the tech op grumbled. "You wouldn't believe what all I had on that too. It was set up just right."

"Better the computer than you," Annie murmured.

"Anderson, Wilcox, and Walker?" A middle-aged man rounded into Annie's and Jai's line of sight and stood and stared until they gave him a short nod. "My name is Officer Shepherd and I just received word about you three from Langley."

"Good words, I hope. Like get them to an ER and they deserve hazard pay for dealing with copious amounts of crazy." Auggie said.

"I can guarantee you medical attention, Mr. Anderson." Shepherd said, forcing down a smile.

"Thank God for small favors. I'd hate to be bleeding over someone's chaise lounge during debriefing."

Jai and Annie stood, ready to help Auggie to his feet. "Maybe you should check him for head injuries." Jai murmured.

"No, that was yesterday. Today is just everything else," Auggie replied easily. He let out a low hiss as Jai pulled him to his feet.

"You can make it to the medic, right?" Jai asked, noting the sudden lack of quick remark on the other man's end. Well, if nothing else, he'd learned on way to shut August Anderson up.

"Yeah. Great," Auggie managed.

"He's going to have to. The rest of this building has been declared unsafe due to the structural damage and the ah...fire." Shepherd said.

"Can I..."

"No." Jai and Annie said at the same time. Annie gave the officer a sheepish grin. "We've got him."

He nodded briefly. "Director Campbell will be in shortly."

Annie took Auggie's other arm and they moved slowly to where the medic was already treating wounded students. She watched as they chattered amongst themselves about various degrees of injuries - none overly serious that she could see - and wondered if they would ever meander out of a fire drill again.

Auggie tensed when he felt a new set of hands reaching at him, but then realized that they had been closer to their medical destination that he'd first thought. He sagged down onto the gurney - that apparently was seconding as a table for them - as the medic instructed. He felt Annie's hand leave his shoulder and fought the urge to reach for it again. "I'll be right back." He heard her say, but she was already moving away from him.

For the first time in a long time he felt completely helpless. He had none of his usual gadgets, no cane, no guide and not even a name with which to address the medic tending him. "Can you stitch me here?" he asked. "I'd rather not go to a hospital.

The medics hands stilled for a second. "I don't think that's a good idea." she said, sounding surprised. "You were in an explosion."

Auggie resisted the urge to role his eyes. "Yeah... Kinda caught on to that. Must have been the heat. That still doesn't tell me if you can get away with just patching me up here. 'Not a good idea' isn't quite 'can't do it.'" He flashed a charming smile in hopes that it would do all that it had for him in the past. He wasn't sure, after everything that had happened, he could take the smell of disinfectant and the crisp, over-washed sheets that covered the medical beds.

"If you're conscious and I don't come across anything internal, you're an adult and you have the right to refuse further treatment. We wont' take you against your will, but you'll go against our advice." she said firmly, indicating that in her opinion he needed to go. Luckily for him, he didn't care about her opinion.

* * *

Annie had taken a few steps away to gather herself while they worked on him. The sight of him being laid out on a gurney and stitched up was more than she was willing to deal with after the last couple of days. She knew that if Auggie knew she were upset over him he'd make some wisecrack about something or the other and grin at her. She heard him arguing with the medic over if he should go to the hospital or not and she leaned heavily against a van that was parked several yards away. She closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath. "Tough couple of days," Jai said, causing her to startle.

Annie glanced up at him, surprised to find she felt a little guilty. She hoped it didn't show. His expression gave nothing away and Annie found she didn't like not being able to read him, even if her ability to do so before had been an illusion granted her. She smiled weakly. "Yeah. It has been. Can't say this is how I expected the case to end."

Jai gave a snort of agreement. There were several moments of an awkward silence before Annie sighed. "Thank you. For last night. I don't know why you came and got me, but I never thanked you.

"To be perfectly honest, Annie, I couldn't tell you why I did it either." Jai said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "And I can't say you're welcome because I'm probably going to regret it. But you're strong, and you're good, and I don't want you to think I'm saying this because..." Jai trailed off. He took a deep breath, looked at her and smiled. "Be careful."

"Jai? Annie!" Joan's voice rang out over the parking lot.

"Got to tell the boss we literally blew this one out of the water." He murmured. "I'll take care of Joan. You go make sure Auggie doesn't try to escape the medic without assistance." He turned and walked away.

Annie couldn't help the small smile that tugged her lips at the mental image of that. Auggie was being all but yelled at by the young medic by the time Annie returned to him. She stood in amazement as he argued his wellness with her and the fact that he would know if he'd lost enough blood to need any sort of transfusion. With that he stood from the gurney and swayed dangerously. Annie covered the distance between them and helped the medic to steady him. "Take it easy," she murmured lowly.

"Did I hear Joan?" he asked.

"Yeah, Jai's talking to her... No, she's coming this way."

"Shit," he growled out and turned toward the medic. "The blonde lady? Tell her I'm fine and that I can be sent home."

"Mr. Anderson, I'm not going to-"

"You said I could make that call for myself."

"Well, if she's your superior and she asks, you were injured on the job, technically..." The young medic looked petrified as Joan approached.

"What's going on here?" Joan demanded. "You look terrible." she said to Auggie. She scanned Annie. "So do you. Do either of you know how to do anything without causing police, fire, and ambulances to arrive on the scene?" She turned back to the medic. "Well? You haven't answered my question, Ms. Rhoads."

Auggie turned his head toward Annie. "How come she gets to know the medics name?" he asked.

"Because I can see her name badge." Joan answered.

"Ah...um...Mr. Anderson was in the blast, ma'am, but is declining a hospital visit."

"Oh he is, is he? And do you recommend, in your medical opinion, that a man caught in an explosion should _opt out _of a quick hospital check?"

"No, ma'am."

"Well that settles that. Annie, go with Auggie to the hospital. Call me if they want him overnight. We'll debrief you both tomorrow." She sighed. "And thank you for not getting yourselves killed."

Auggie leaned towards Annie. "I think that's code for she's glad we're all right." he said in a stage whispered.

"She's still standing here." Annie said.

Joan massaged the bridge of her nose, looking more stressed than Annie had ever seen her. She took a look back to what was left of the building and back to her two operatives. "You're damn lucky. That should have killed you."

"Apparently was meant to," Auggie answered with a shrug and a grimace.

Joan frowned. "Get him to the hospital," she instructed the medic. "Don't let him talk the doctors out of anything. He will." She reached into the small purse that she carried and fished out a card. "If all else fails, call Dr. Richard Easom at Langley."

"Joan!" Auggie protested loudly. "He'll yell at me."

"I'm yelling at you!" his boss growled out. "Stay. Where. They. Put. You."

"Dr. Easom. Got it. Thanks, Joan." Annie said.

"Is she gone?" Auggie asked a few seconds later.

"Yes."

"How'd she look?"

"Like she was about to grow another head. Or seven." Annie replied.

Auggie made a face. "Yikes. Okay, let's get out of here."

"I don't think so, Mr. Anderson." The medic, Rhoads, said.

"Yeah, Auggie, Joan is gone but the ambulance is not." Annie said, patting his shoulder.

* * *

Joan stood and watched from a distance until she saw the stubborn tech operative loaded into the back of the ambulance and the vehicle left. She turned around and pointed a glare at Jai who had quietly approached from behind.

He threw his hands up, thinking that he was ready for any accusation that might come his way. He'd worked it all through and come up with the most plausible answers he could hand her that she would believe coming from his mouth. He trusted Joan as well as he could, but the trust was usually not a two way street with them.

The blonde gave him a dark look. "Listen and listen well, Jai. I know that my husband is planning something and he's dragged Auggie into it, and I know you know something about it."

Jai had not expected that.

"Then you know as much as I do." Jai said. Complete denial would just make her angrier.

"Don't give me that." Joan said, hand instinctively going to her hip. "You are Arthur are like peas in a pod, plus you just spent almost forty-eight hours with Auggie on an op that was about him personally. If you don't know anything I'll be forced to believe you aren't very good at your job."

"Or Auggie is very good at his job," Jai replied, meeting her eyes calmly.

She gave him a steady, accusing glare and finally let her breath out in a snort. "If I find out that you've been going behind my back on this, you'll have a one-way ticket to some far off country, do I make myself clear, Mr. Wilcox?"

"Crystal, ma'am," he answered. He watched her turn to walk off and couldn't help but call after her, "Does that go for Auggie as well?"

"It very likely could." Joan called over her shoulder without looking back.

A black car pulled into the drive and Joan smirked. Arthur Campbell stepped out of the vehicle, and stopped short when he saw his wife. "Joan?"

"You'd have gotten here quicker if you'd taken the helicopter," she answered, giving him a slight smirk. As it was, he was still there far too quickly for her liking. He'd been alerted by someone other than the boy that she'd spoken to. "What are you doing here?"

"For heaven's sake Joan, half the Farm burns down and my people are involved, why the hell wouldn't I be here?" Arthur exclaimed.

Joan crossed her arms. "And were you planning on telling me before or after the three of them had been briefed?"

"Joan..."

"No. They are _my _people, Arthur, and I don't get so much as a phone call from you. Or did you have business to discuss with Jai that you didn't want me to hear? Or perhaps Auggie?"

Arthur cleared his throat, but otherwise gave no sign of acknowledging the underlying claim. "If you had let me finish, you would have hard me say that I _did _call you. Your secretary said you'd stepped out."

"And my cell?"

"Check it."

Joan ripped the cell phone from her purse, glaring at the three missed calls with her husband's name attached to it.

"You don't have to look so angry that I did what you wanted me to do," he said softly, glancing around to make sure that their conversation would not be interrupted.

"Arthur," Joan said, sounding strained, "These calls came in five, fifteen, and twenty minutes ago. Long after it would have been possible for me to come with you or leave in a timely manner." Arthur began to speak and Joan held up her hand. "Don't." She shook her head and turned to walk away.

He caught her wrist, a pleading look in her eyes. "They're fine, Joan," he promised.

"Have you _seen_ them?"his wife demanded. "Auggie looked better when he came back from _Iraq_."

"He'd also been through several hospitals on the way home. You didn't see him directly after it happened." He sighed. "You can't baby him, Joan. He's still an operative and he knows the risks."

"And you can't put people -I'm sorry, certain people- in unnecessary danger to meet your own ends, Arthur." Joan said. She hesitated for a moment, and then pulled her wrist out of his grasp. "Jai's down the hill." she said quietly.

"Contrary to your belief, Joan, not everything I do is against you. Sometimes I'm trying to protect you," Arthur said lowly, only a little of the frustration and hurt that he felt flicker in his voice. It was a moment of honesty for him. It was the most he could do.

"I don't need protection," Joan hissed. "If you knew me at all, you'd know that."

Arthur knew it all too well. But what he couldn't seem to convey to her was that he didn't do half of what he had done because she needed him to, but because he wanted to. He watched her walk away, a sinking feeling growing in his chest. This was bad. He let his gaze fall on Jai, down the hill as Joan had said. It was going to get a whole lot worse.

He was pretty sure that he could count on Auggie to come up with something to delay it, but he'd married a very intelligent woman. She wouldn't let this slip by forever, and he just hoped that when the dust settled she'd still come home to him.

* * *

A/N: I have to admit, I loved the Joan/Arthur moments in the finale. It gave me hope for the two of them. Anyway, quick update since Gabi and I are going out on the town tonight (as much as you can in this city...) Can't promise an update for tomorrow, so I thought two today would get me out of trouble. =P Please review!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Okay, we've finished writing this one (but this isn't the last chapter) and started an other (Hand on the Devil, if you haven't read it, go read!), but don't worry, I plan to still update this until it's finished, even though the other one has begun to be put out. =)

* * *

Annie stood outside the ER, an uneasy feeling not leaving her to think about anything else other than its source. Auggie'd been taken back over half an hour ago and she knew that this particular hospital was used for CIA and military injuries. He hadn't gotten lost in the shuffle.

"Any word?" Joan asked from behind.

Annie jumped and turned to Joan. "Hi. No. No one has come to tell me anything. I tired to ask and they very firmly declined to give me anything."

Joan nodded and watched the hospital staff move through the area for a moment and without warning reached out and snagged a young doctor by the lapels of his jacket. He made a surprised sound and came to a halt. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"Do you know who I am?" Joan asked.

"Um, no...I..."

"My name is Joan Campbell. My name might not mean anything to you but the fact that I can end your career in two minutes or less should be very, very important. I need to know the status of August Anderson and I need to know it now. Should I not be present you are to give this young woman standing next to me full disclosure. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am. Of course." He nodded and took off after the information in question as soon as she let go of him.

Joan moved to take a seat in one of the stiff-backed waiting room chairs and Annie watched her very carefully. Joan had always been very good about keeping a straight face in front of her - and she'd wager most anyone else as well - and even though she still wore her usual cool expression she looked exhausted. Auggie had told her once, at a late night at Allen's when most of their co-workers had already gone home, about when he'd been transferred back to a State-side hospital and the fact that it had been Joan waiting for him there. It wasn't a doctor that had given him the news that his eyes would never be useful to him again, but Joan. He held a very high respect for the blonde woman, and promised Annie that there was much more under the stony expression. As she watched her now, Annie realized just how much the respect went both ways.

"Stu's sending over a change of clothes for you. It should be here in half an hour." Joan said. "Are you sure you weren't hurt?"

Annie shook her head. "No. I'm fine. Just..."

"Worried?" Joan guessed. Annie nodded. "He's a tough kid. One of the strongest fighters I know. But don't tell him I said so."

Annie laughed a little at this. "I promise." She paused thoughtfully. "He really does respect you, Joan."

Joan snorted. "He thinks he owes me something for keeping him on at the Agency," she murmured with a wave of her hand.

Annie shrugged, feeling her muscles start to stiffen even with that movement. After a few moments of silence between them, the young doctor that Joan had caught earlier came scuttling back.

"Ms. Campbell?"

"Do you think I changed identity in the seconds you were gone?" Joan asked.

"Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am. Mr. Anderson had been taken back for x-rays to make sure there was no internal damage or broken bones. Which there weren't any. Broken bones, I mean. He's been stitched up. His doctor would like to keep him overnight to make sure there's no residual damage or swelling."

The young man, Joan pegged him as an intern, fell silent. They stared at each other for a long minute and she felt amused as he started to fidget. "This is the part where you tell us what room he's in and when we can go see him. It would be in your best interest if the time we can see him is now."

Annie did her best not to laugh as the young man nodded very quickly. "Yes, ma'am, of course. He was just moved into room 302. Third floor."

"Of course," Joan answered icily.

"Well, yes, I guess that makes sense." He gave a short, nervous laugh. "His doctor said that he really shouldn't be bothered right now, but... I'm sure if you go up one at a time it shouldn't be an issue."

Joan uncrossed her legs and stood slowly. She straightened her jacket and stared at him. He looked between her and Annie, who was giving him the same look. "Are you two related?" he asked. When they both raised an eyebrow he shook his head. "Never mind. I don't want to know. You can both go." He ducked away.

"Elevator?" Joan asked.

"Yes, please." Annie agreed

They didn't speak as they rode the elevator to the third floor, nor till they walked down to the closed door. Annie glanced at Joan, but the other woman simply opened it and walked in.

Auggie lay somewhat pale against the white sheets, eyes closed and IVs meant to both keep him hydrated and replenish the blood he'd lost. Bandages peeked out from under the hospital gown and he stirred at their entrance.

"Joan?" he questioned. His gaze searched, instinct more than expectation of results.

She moved quickly forward. "Hey. When I told you not to pull another Canada, I didn't mean to out do yourself."

Auggie laughed and winced. "What can I say? I've always been the overachiever."

She shook her head and patted his shoulder very lightly, unsure of where all the injuries lay. "How are you feeling?"

"Like hell. I think I'm done getting blown up."

"Good to hear." Joan paused, glancing back at Annie. "Someone's here to see you."

"Annie." he said instantly.

"I'm here." Annie said, taking a step forward.

Joan stepped back. "I'm going to go talk to Stu. I'll be back in a few minutes." She said.

Annie nodded and waited until the door shut behind her to move to his bedside. "The doctor said you'll patch up just fine."

"Couldn't quite convince them to let me go today," he murmured tiredly. "Apparently Joan's scarier than I am."

Annie laughed, imagining what sort of message that Joan could have gotten to the medical staff on her way there. No wonder the young intern had been so frightened, even returning with good news. "She does have a way with people." He reached a hand up and was instantly greeted with hers. A smile perked his lips. "What's Stu here for?"

"Bringing me some fresh clothes, apparently," Annie answered.

"That's weird... Not exactly in his field of work."

"Maybe it's a subtle way for him to check on his favorite boss," the blonde grinned and kissed Auggie's knuckles lightly.

"Or maybe it's a subtle way for Joan to get information on what's happening back at the ranch." Auggie said, squeezing her fingers. "I'm glad you're okay. For future reference, one typically doesn't run towards the center of an explosion."

"One typically doesn't get blown up twice within... what? Three years?"

"Less," Auggie groaned. "Touché."

The door opened rather abruptly, causing Annie to turn. Arthur Campbell stood in door frame. "You'll give us a moment, won't you, Miss Walker?"

Auggie reluctantly let go of Annie's hand and she assured him she'd be back shortly. As she passed Arthur she thought she saw a grimace cross his face as he spoke. "I'd appreciate if you didn't bother Joan with my stopping by up here."

Annie narrowed her eyes but gave a short nod. "She'll be back in a few minutes." Annie said. She shot a glance back at Auggie and left.

"Arthur." Auggie said. "To what do I owe the pleasure? I could have stopped by the office tomorrow."

"Oh, stop. Were the leaks related?" Arthur asked, picking up the chart at the end of Auggie's bed to make sure he liked the prognosis

"No, it doesn't look like it," the injured man murmured, exhaustion evident in his voice. It would have made his life a lot easier if they had been related. No more Liza, no more possibilities of going behind Joan's back, no more feeling like there was a strong possibility that if Arthur's plan that they had implemented just before he and the others had left Langley for this job didn't work, he'd be looking at - metaphorically speaking of course - becoming the temporary scapegoat. Arthur certainly was pissed enough at him.

Arthur set the charts back down. "Any word from Liza?"

"I told her that I had a family emergency and would be out of town for a few days. She hasn't called."

Arthur sighed.

"This is going to unravel around our ears, isn't it?" Auggie asked quietly.

Arthur thought about it. He thought about the worst possible consequences. He would loose his job, or worse, get demoted and posted in the farthest reaches of nowhere. Joan would leave him, and she would possibly lose her position simply because of proximity. Auggie and Jai would certainly be fired. Annie might make it out, maybe not. "No. It won't. I don't hire the best for no reason. Or keep the best if someone else hired them first." Arthur said firmly.

Auggie nodded, accepting that answer. What other choice did he have? After a moment he shifted, feeling the pain medication blurring his senses more than he'd like. "And your certain this has to be kept from Joan? I...understand your need to protect her, but I owe her a lot. I feel like I'm betraying her." He worked his way through his words, hoping that they were coming out as clearly as he meant for them to.

"So do I." Arthur said. "Let me know when you hear from Liza."

Auggie listened to him walk towards the door. "Annie will tell her." he said as Arthur pulled the door open.

Arthur laughed. "I wouldn't be surprised. Not at all. Just one more conversation to add to my list."

Auggie's mind immediately went to Annie. If they continued down the path they were on, would they turn out like Joan and Arthur? "Is it worth it?" The words had left his mouth before he could stop them and he silently cursed the pain killers.

Arthur gave a small, sad smile. "Every second of it," he swore honestly.

"I want to grow up to be just like you." Auggie said, grinning.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Get better soon. I need you at your best."

"Yessir." Auggie kept grinning after the door shut. For a second he could see himself in Arthur's job, Annie in Joan's, them together ruling the DPD and corrupting all the young minds they could get their hands on. "Now there's a plan." he said to himself.

A few moments later the door opened again Auggie perked, then his shoulders sagged again. "Clinking necklace and different heels. You're back, Joan."

"I only like that trick when you do it to other people," she responded in a cool tone. "I see my husband just came in to see you."

"Yeah, I guess being involved with the case that ends with the explosion of the Farm's tech department warrants a visit from the director Clandestine Service Department. Who knew?"

Joan didn't reply. She walked up to the bed so she was as close as she could be. "Auggie. I don't want you to think that I coddle you or that I think less of you as an operative. You are probably my best agent, field or otherwise and I hope that over the years I have been a decent enough boss that I have earned your respect. And your trust. We both know that a lot of this job is about risk. Risk assessment, personal risk, and putting things on the line you hope to God you don't have to lose. I want you to know that I only ever have your best interest in mind." She patted his arm. "And, again, thank you for not getting yourself killed."

Auggie just barely kept his jaw from dropping. "Hey," he breathed out, sounding very confused, "they have me on some pain killers, so you'll have to excuse me if I'm missing something, but... That is Joan there, right?"

She gave a short, forced laugh at his attempt at a joke. "They're releasing you tomorrow?"

"That or I'm finding someone to forge the paperwork to say so."

Joan watched his face carefully during her speech, the small tells giving her everything she needed to know. Auggie knew how to handle her when she was angry, both silent and shouting. Very few people knew how to react to her openness, and Auggie was not among the few. If no one were going to simply tell her the truth, she'd simply piece it together herself. She was hurt and disappointed, but not surprised. It was, after all, just part of the game. "Make it someone other than Annie, please. She's committed enough crimes over the last few weeks, I think." she said, returning to her cool tone.

He nodded thoughtfully. "Good call. Is Stu still here?"

She gave a fake groan. "I'll call Easom if you're not carefully." She paused, shaking her head at his continual antics. At least he wasn't rushing off with a Russian anarchist this time. "On second thought, I'd prefer if you do let Dr. Easom give you a check up once you get back to Langley. So, on top of the paperwork from this hospital, have Easom give me a call when he's done with you."

"A call?"

"Or swing by. Either way, I want it authenticated."

Auggie let out an over the top sigh. "If you say so. I'm really fine. I really just want to go home." "In the morning. You can make an appointment for Easom. I want it within the week, though. I'll clear your sick time with your boss."

"That's mean, Joan," he grumbled.

"I'm cutting off visitors for a bit. It's mid afternoon, but I'd wager you could use the rest."

"You heading back to Langley?" he asked, sinking slightly into the pillow behind him.

"I have... a few other things to deal with, but then I will. Sleep well, Auggie." He heard her tap her way out the door and sighed to himself. He would have rather had Annie come back in, but he doubted that was plausible. Instead he sank into sleep, hoping that he wouldn't awake to the horrors of nightmares.


	9. Chapter 9

The nightmares were interrupted just as they'd begun to stir in his mind. He half awoke in the middle of the night to the soft click of heels and the scent he had began to associate with safety and happiness. A warmth pressed against him and he gravitated toward her, mumbling her name in his drowsiness. She said something softly against his ear, something important, but the drugs and the peace were too much and he drifted off before respond.

Auggie woke some time later to the sound of movement. The smell of anti-bacterial soap hit his nose first and he resisted the urge to gag against it. The sound shoes tapped the floor steadily and pulled away from the sudden presence over him. "Good morning, Mr. Anderson," the doctor - whose name he'd forgotten in the middle of everything - greeted happily. "How are you feeling?"

Auggie's mind went into overdrive, putting the day before together and he responded as quickly as he could, "Doing great. That mean I can go home?"

"We're just going to do a couple of checks and then you should be all clear. You have a ride waiting and everything." his doctor said.

"Oh good. Some nameless driver who can take me by a Starbucks first." Auggie sighed.

"You might want to get her name. She's pretty." the doctor said.

Auggie's lips quirked upwards. Annie. "I'll take your word for it." he murmured.

"Doctor Easom called to get a run down on your injuries. He said he can stop by before you go if you'd prefer that to an appointment."

Auggie weighed the options. "Might be better," he agreed.

After the poking and the prodding, the doctor declared that he'd cleared him and that if he wished to return to the hospital to meet with Dr. Easom in a couple of hours. Auggie thanked the doctor as well as he could and smiled when he heard the steady clinking of heels. The smell of grapefruit hit his senses - clearer than they had been the day before as they'd been lessened by the drugs then - and he reached a hand out to her. "Mornin', beautiful."

Annie laced her fingers into his and smiled. "Hey, handsome." she greeted. "You've been sprung, and I imagine you're going to want coffee."

"You know me too well." Auggie said. "I don't suppose..."

She pressed the handles of a bag into his other hand. "Clothes, and shower stuff so you can be clean before being see in public." she confirmed.

"You, Annie, are a God-sent."

"And, even better, I heard Joan and Arthur discussing a reimbursement for your computer." She paused to watch him smile for a moment. "Hey, don't guess you know what they were yelling about, do you?"

Auggie winced. "They were actually yelling?" Annie nodded.

"Yeah. You couldn't hear it, but gestures speak louder than words."

Auggie shook his head. "I don't know for sure. They have...issues."

Annie laughed. "There's an understatement. It must be true love keeping them together."

Auggie gave a sad smile. "I hope so, for their sake." He paused. "You know I have no idea where the showers are in this place. Or if there are showers."

Annie laughed. "C'mon. I can get you as far as the door. The nurse told me to take you this direction." She released his hand only to loop her arm through his and they started down the hall. After a moment she murmured, "You won't... hide things from me like Arthur does Joan, will you Auggie?"

He sighed deeply."Yes." he said carefully. "If I feel that's what's best for you or for an op." He heard her sigh, but she didn't hesitate or pull away. He took that as a good sign. "But," he added after a moment, "I think I realize something that Arthur hasn't yet, and that's working with you is better than us working around each other."

He felt her grip tighten. "That's the answer I needed to hear," she murmured.

Shower, caffeine fix, and a car trip back to where they'd started that morning later, Auggie and Annie returned to the hospital. Dr. Easom was waiting for them on the fifth floor, they were told, and when they arrived Auggie could hear another voice chatting away with the brilliant doctor. As they grew closer, Annie's surprise call of Jai's name made him frown ever so slightly.

"Auggie." Dr. Easom greeted. "And you must be the lovely Miss Walker."

Annie put out her free hand to shake the doctor's when Auggie did not. "It's very nice to meet you." She turned a quizzical gaze towards Jai. "What are you doing here?"

"Just making sure everyone's alright," Jai answered with his charming smile.

"Mr. Wilcox here is much more pleasant than his father," Easom noted with a small smile.

"Not like it takes a lot to be more pleasant," Auggie grumbled.

The doctor clasped a hand on his patient's shoulder. "As excited as always to be in a hospital," he acknowledged, "have a seat and I'll have you heading back to DC as soon as I can." He reached a hand out to him and directed him to the room's only bed. The doctor looked back at Annie and Jai. "If we could have a moment?"

"I'll be right outside." she said to Auggie. He nodded and Annie closed the door for them.

She stood in front of Jai resisted the urge to shuffle her feet like a school girl. "It was good of you to come by." She said finally. "We were all pretty lucky, huh?"

"We were real lucky. I hear Auggie managed to get out of it easier than he ever should have."

"Better than last time," Annie murmured. She glanced back at the door. "He didn't look comfortable with that man."

Jai grinned at this. "I know a little of that story. Dr. Easom was Auggie's doctor at Walter Reed. He was hired on by the Agency for the work he did with Auggie and they provided extra training for him to expand his field with the understanding that he'd come to work at Langley. He gives Auggie a hard time like Joan does."

"Auggie doesn't seem to like it, coming from him." Annie said.

"Auggie probably associates Easom with the injury and Joan with the recovery. It's bound to affect how you feel about someone. Extreme experiences often do." Jai said, only realizing how that could sound after he said it. He then had to remind himself that she didn't know he knew Ben Mercer, or what he knew about Sri Lanka.

Behind the door Auggie sat and felt Easom check stitches that had been put in and various other injuries. "You don't do things halfway, do you, Auggie?" the doctor chuckled as he felt gingerly at the knot on the back of the tech op's head.

"All or nothing," Auggie grumbled. "So, break it to me gently, doc. Am I still blind?"

"I'm afraid so, Mr. Anderson," Easom said seriously, "But the good news is your attitude hasn't suffered any permanent damage."

Auggie let out a puff of laughter. "Let's just make this quick, okay? As much as I love your company I have a warm coffee maker and a beautiful young woman waiting for me."

"She is very pretty," Easom acknowledged.

"So how soon can you have me back at work?"

The aging doctor sighed at this question. "Auggie, you need rest. In my opinion you shouldn't have been out of bed today, but I know that if I go and tell Joan that you'll end up hurting yourself worse trying to leave. I'll compromise with you: I'll allow you to leave this hospital if you swear to me that you'll go home, have someone help you for at least a week as you stay in bed, and then come in for an other check at the end of the week. Then I will clear you as soon as I feel you're not in danger of ripping the stitches or coming down with an infection."

"A week?" Auggie protested. "Three days. Anything wrong will show up by then. Besides, I can't have anyone in my apartment that long. That alone will make me pop a stitch."

"Even if it's Miss Walker? I can insist to Joan that you need someone to watch after you."

Auggie thought of a week with nothing but him and Annie. No work, no ops, no gunshots, no wondering what was happening to Annie in the field without him. And then he thought of Liza and cringed. "Four days." Maybe he could keep Liza away that long. He'd change the locks if he had to.

Easom let out an irritated sound. "You know that I won't be changed on my prognosis. If you're not careful I'll call Joan and tell her that you shouldn't leave this hospital. Or worse, I could have you transferred to Langley where we could both keep a careful eye on you."

Auggie groaned inwardly. It wasn't as if the op he was running on Liza was on the books anyway. He'd be able to persuade Annie to let him leave the apartment if she were close by. "Fine," he said at last.

"And no funny business?"

"Of course not."

Easom didn't believe him for one split second, but knew he couldn't do a damn thing about it. Auggie would do whatever he pleased and Easom could only hope he didn't kill himself in the process. "I'm going to give that pretty young lady my card and my direct line and I think she cares about you enough to call me if you push your luck." he said firmly.

"C'mon, Doc," Auggie said with a wide smile and pushed himself off the bed.

"When do I ever push my luck?"

"Every day that you live," Easom answered tiredly. He paid a gentle hand on Auggie's arm, carefully to avoid the mess that the bullet had left behind. "I'm serious, Auggie. Take it easy."

The playful banter had been put aside and Auggie gave Easom a genuine smile. "I'll do my best to give you time for your other patients," he promised vaguely

"I appreciate your thoughtfulness." Easom said wryly. "As will my other patients. As will Miss Walker." he added.

"Don't." Auggie said softly. "I can't afford to have too many people aware of our...of us."

Easom made a sound of acknowledgement. "I see. Well, you're very lucky to have a friend like her."

"You have no idea," Auggie answered.

"Ah, one more thing," Easom said as if remembering something suddenly.

Auggie heard him rummaging through what he assumed was his bag for a moment and then felt something being pressed into his hand. The tech op smiled when he realized it was a new cane. "How did you-"

"Oh good heavens," Easom cut him off, sounding as if he were only trying to sound irritable. "I'm aloud to have some secrets, aren't I? Anyway, it's not far fetched that you'd lose yours when you're caught in an explosion."

Auggie reached out and the other man grasped his hand. "I'll see you in a week," he promised evenly, and then laughed a little. "Well, you know..."

Easom shook his hand and briefly clasped his shoulder. "Get out of here before I have you arrested for the murder of sight related puns."

Auggie hopped off the end of the bed and unfolded his new cane. "Oh, don't worry. There's plenty more where that came from."

Easom opened the door to the room and Auggie was greeted by the sound of Annie's laughter. His face lit up until he remembered that she was talking to Jai. He managed to keep his expression positive. "What's so funny?" he asked, tapping the ground in front of him to make sure that he wouldn't run into or over anything

"Jai was just telling me that Barber goto himself into some trouble while we were gone. Don't worry, your office is safe." Annie said, automatically gravitating toward him. "What did the doctor say?"

"Uh, can I talk to you about that...over there?"

"Over where?"

"Over anywhere that Jai can't hear us."

She gave a small laugh and shot Jai an apologetic look before leading him to a corner a few feet away. "What's up? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, of course," he answer quickly. "Listen... I need you to promise me something. Easom's going to convince you that I have to stay in bed for the next week..."

"But?"

"But I have something that has to be taken care of. I... can't go into the details. I'm sorry, and I promise to tell you as soon as I'm able." She reached a hand out and touched his cheek lightly. "Not that you won't sneak away at some point. It's not like I'll be over at your place 24/7."

"If Easom gets his way you will."

"Really?" Auggie couldn't help but smile at the hopeful sound to her voice.

"Really. Maybe we could manage 20/7. Or 24/5. Whatever equals more time." Auggie said. He hesitated. "Annie, I'm sorry."

She shook her head and brushed her thumb over his cheekbone. "Don't. It's my job, too. I know why you do what you do."

Auggie nodded, slowly. "Easom's going to give you his card. You'll need to call him in a couple of days. Be concerned, but optimistic."

"Every day of my life." she said.

"Great, so let's head home," Auggie murmured with a grin.

After cards were exchanged and things were set the relatively short trip back to DC was arranged. Jai politely declined the half-way invite that Annie mumbled out very unenthusiastically for a return ride home. He assured her that he had his ways of getting back. "A moment of your time before you leave," Jai directed towards Auggie and the two men stepped to the side.

Auggie shifted, tired and ready to head home. "Listen, I know that you're ordered on bed rest, but Arthur would like to know if you happen to hear from Liza at any point. I assume that you can manage that?"

"Of course," the tech op replied easily. An uncomfortable silence erupted between them and Auggie resisted the urge to say something he might regret later. The jealousy that Jai had radiated earlier had not worn off and he wondered how that would turn in the working place.

"You ready?" Annie called. Auggie turned, giving a half way in Jai's direction. They'd cross that bridge when they came to it.

Annie watched Auggie walk towards her and looked past him to the dark eyed agent who stood behind him, watching her in return. Jai said nothing, made no acknowledgement. He simply watched her with a mixture of regret and resolution. As Auggie reached her, he smiled the same smile he'd given her when they met, nodded once and turned and walked away. Annie understood. The three of them now had a secret, until one of them needed to use it. Auggie reached out his arm and she linked herself to him.

The trip home was quiet as Auggie slept more than he didn't. Exhaustion suddenly tugged at him and he barely roused as Annie's car came to a stop outside of his apartment. He heard the door open and felt her hands gently guiding him into a standing position. "You gonna make it?" she teased in his ear.

"I'm thinking that bed sounds better and better," he chuckled. Maybe it wouldn't be a stretch for him to sleep for a week straight. They opted for the elevator and slid his large door open just in time to hear his phone ringing and it calling out Liza Hearn's name. Auggie was suddenly awake as he tugged out of Annie's grasp, muttering curses all the way to the kitchen.

Annie took a deep breath and took a moment to be grateful that Auggie couldn't see her face. She was sure her poker face was taking refuge somewhere between her heart and her stomach and wasn't likely to make the return journey anytime soon. Auggie stumbled towards the phone, tripping over his tiredness more than anything else.

He caught it on the last ring. "Liza?" There was a pause and he leaned heavily against the counter. "Yeah, I just got back." Another pause and what sounded like an angry reporter on the other end. "I told you that I'd be out of town. I didn't know how long. Family issues. It does happen." He frowned deeply. "Yes, I can meet you tonight. Do you know Allen's Tavern? Nine-thirty. Alright." He clicked it shut and almost dropped it to the counter. "I'll be glad when this is done and over with," he breathed quietly.

"Me too." Annie said. She let her mind wander to an image of her trouncing the evil witch, rubbing her face in the dirt, breaking her nails, and ripping large patches of her hair out. Then she would take a picture and post it all over the internet. Annie smiled to herself. Maybe she could use her resources at the office to delete every job application Liza ever filled out in the future from here to eternity.

"Annie, can I ask you a huge favor?" Auggie murmured, inching his way over to the couch and sitting heavily down on it. She set their bags down by the door and followed, still playing the entertaining of the screaming, pain-ridden, humiliated Liza Hearn over and over again in her head.

"What's up?"

"Could you drive me to Allen's Tavern tonight?"


	10. Chapter 10

"You... shouldn't really be drinking on painkillers, Aug."

"I haven't taken what they gave me," he promised. He dug into his pocket and fished out his cell phone, feeling the Braille indents for the numbers.

"Sure, Auggie. Whatever you need. I'll make some coffee, okay?" her heels clicked away from him, finding her way through the kitchen. As she rifled through cabinets looking for mugs, she was content to find her own way and memorize where things were as opposed to asking, she thought of Joan and wondered how if she knew what she was getting into when she fell in love with Arthur. Or if she'd hoped it would be different once they were married. Annie was almost positive Joan thought it was worth it. Annie turned and looked back at Auggie. Falling in love hadn't worked so well for her before. And if she let this happen, let herself go there again, it didn't seem like it was going to get any easier.

Auggie held the phone up to his ear until a male voice answered, _"Campbell."_

"Liza called," Auggie answered, his voice sounding tired even to himself. "She sounds pissed."

_"You think she contacted her source?" _

"There's a good possibility. I'm meeting her at Allen's tonight."

_"I'll send Jai along with you."_

"For what? Protection? She couldn't do anything to me." Auggie said.

"_There are lots of things she could do to you. Many of them worse than death. Jai's going, that's final._"

Auggie sighed. He was doomed to a life filled of Jai where he didn't want him. "Great. My hero."

_"What time?" _

" 9:30."

_"Meet Jai there at 9. Don't be late."_ The phone clicked in his ear, signifying that the man on the other end had hung up.

Auggie let out a frustrated sound. "Sure, Arthur, totally up to this tonight," he grumbled aloud, tossing his phone to the other end of the couch and sinking down against it. "It looks like we'll be headed to Allen's tonight after all."

"Should I come?"

"You have to. If you don't it will be me and Jai alone and no one will believe me when I tell them I slayed him with my wit alone." Annie laughed.

"You know, you could give each other a chance. You're both grown men who happen to both be good at their jobs."

"He also has to be a grown ass that can't fess up to his own mistakes," Auggie grumble. The pain was making him irritable, but he thought that beer and painkillers might make for a cocktail he wasn't ready for that night. With a sigh he reached out, grasping around for her hand. Finally it touched his, very lightly, and he took hold of it, brushing his lips very lightly over this skin on the back of it. "I'm sorry," he murmured earnestly. "

"For what?"

"I'm exhausted and really did expect to spend the rest of the day and night in bed. This... is probably pretty close to the last thing I'd like to have on my list of things to do."

Annie sat next to him on the couch, half listening for the sound of the coffee maker to be finished. "I know. It would be pretty low on my list too. If it doesn't go well, I'll spill a beer on her for you." she offered.

Auggie grinned. "Don't piss her off too much. I still have some of my stuff at her place." He paused as soon as the words were out of his mouth, realizing that that as probably not the best thing to say. Annie had been more understanding than he probably deserved for this particular op, but she was tired and probably a bit sore herself. He felt her hand pull from his. "Annie..."

"The coffee is finished." Annie said. Her voice sounded pinched, but not angry. Auggie knew that angry was sometimes the better option, between that and hurt. Either that, she was hurt and angry, and hiding the anger. Auggie wondered if he should check the coffee for poison.

"Annie, I'm sorry." He stood to follow her.

"Sit," she ordered briskly. "I'll bring the coffee over here. We have a couple hours until we'll have to go." She hadn't asked why Arthur would have known, how Jai had found out, or any of the obvious question. Just accepted it as it came. Auggie shook his head and frowned to himself. He'd really never met anyone quite like her. After a moment he heard the sound of a mug being set down on the coffee table and felt a warm one pressed into his hands. "I know Liza was an op. I know Liza and you slept together. Okay. I just..." She sank down to the couch. "A girl just doesn't need to be reminded all the time, you know?"

"You aren't asking questions." Auggie said.

Annie sighed. "Would you tell me?"

"If I could." Auggie said.

"But most of it you couldn't. At least not yet. And what you could, I'm not sure I'm ready to hear. I'm a big girl, Auggie, but I am a girl."

"I'm very aware of that fact," Auggie swore. He took a sip from his coffee and nearly spit it back out. "Hot."

"No kidding," Annie murmured, a smile obvious in her voice.

He leaned up against her and she finally let out a small, surpressed giggle escape when his head lulled on her shoulder and his hair tickled her nose. Annie inhaled deeply, closed her eyes, and savored the moment. She knew that in a couple hours she'd have to take him to see Madame Skank.

From the moment she met him, Annie had known he was something special. After a while, she'd known where it was going...at least part of her had hoped so. Now she wasn't sure what they were doing, or thinking, going there. Liza pissed her off, but it was temporary and served a purpose. She didn't have to like it, but she understood it. And then there was Natasha. She knew Auggie still loved her, one didn't have to be a CIA agent to spot that. Annie thought about the shells next to her bed; she didn't exactly have a clean slate herself. But Auggie was...Auggie. She kissed his temple.

He gave a quiet moan and she reached over to take the coffee mug from his loosening fingers. She smiled down at him. "Sleep well, Auggie," she whispered.

* * *

A couple hours later he was roused and they were out the door. Allen's was buzzing with its usual crowd mix andJai was there and waiting for them. He took one look at Auggie and frowned. "You up for this?"

"I'm up for anything that's thrown at me," the tech op answered.

"Good." Jai glanced at Annie and then did a sweeping glance over the crowd. "Annie, could I have a sec with Auggie?"

She frowned but nodded. "I'll get the beers."

"I'm so flattered you want me alone I don't know what to say." Auggie said.

"Please, don't make me naseous." Jai said wryly. "I haven't even had a drink yet."

Auggie grinned. "Are worried about me, Jai? Or are you planning on moving in on Liza if things don't go well?"

"Now I'm definitely naseous." Jai grumbled. "No, that's not what I'm here for."

"I know. You're here to make sure that I don't screw it up."

"Listen, Auggie, if we're going to work together we need to put some of this crap behind us. I know we've never gotten along, I know bits and pieces of why you dislike me, I know that I think you rely on the fact that you don't lean on your injury to get by day-to-day and look better than you are. I know that you think you say you care about Annie."

"I do care about Annie," Auggie bit out, eyes narrowed in at least somewhat the right direction.

"As do I." Jai said firmly. "But do you care for her enough to give her up?"

"What makes you think..." Auggie protested.

"This isn't about me, Auggie. It's about the job we all love so much. If they ask you to give her up like they've asked everyone to give something up, can you do it? It may not seem like you have to think about that now, but you do. Before the ties get too tight."

"And there winds up being another broken family with crazy parents and confused children like yours?" Jai didn't answer and Auggie sighed. "You're right. I don't like you. I don't believe you aren't like your father. But I can acknowledge your logic."

"Gotta go. Good luck." Jai said suddenly, and his presence was gone

Auggie felt Annie's hand on his shoulder briefly. "Liza's at the door. I'm going to go get us some beers. You want one?"

"Yeah." She moved away and Auggie felt something tug at him as she left, as if part of him were following her. He wanted to be with Annie tonight as the soreness and stiffness of his injuries set in. He wanted to curl up next to her and feel _her_ arms around him, not Liza's.After the would-be meeting was finished, Auggie was sure that it wasn't Liza's arms he'd ever have to worry about. As he heard her storm away, angry that he'd given her false intel, he felt a sudden rush of guilt. It was a feeling that he hadn't felt in a good while and as Annie sat down and asked him if he wanted to talk about it, he waved her off with an understanding that it would be discussed later, when CIA protocol allowed.

Annie sat down and stared across the bar. She spotted Jai and she smiled. He was a good man, she thought, if he would get out of his own way. Maybe in another lifetime, in another career she could have fallen for him. He was smart, funny, handsome...but he was the sort of man she would have introduced to her sister, if her sister hadn't been married, of course. He turned and caught her eye and smiled. She smiled back automattically, but there was something different about him. He turned back and the silloutte of him wearing that baseball hat made her heart stop. She'd seen him before, indeed in another lifetime. It wasn't possible, she told herself, even thought she knew that it was. "Auggie?" she asked softly. "Do you want to go?" She wanted nothing more than to be very far away.

"Yeah, if you're ready," he murmured, looking perfectly miserable where sat. Jai approached the table, grinning and picking up a beer. "Just knocked down all the 19's and the 20's. I'm on fire!" he announced, sipping at his beer. He turned to see Annie's somewhat haunted look as she stared at him. In her mind, all she saw was a man from years ago. She hand't known his name, but she'd seen him in Sri Lanka, hassling Ben for something or the other. He'd worn a baseball cap and also, now, Jai's face. "What's the matter? Looks like you just saw a ghost," Jai continued with another one of his charming smiles.

"I think we're going to head out," Annie answered as she stood.

"Everything okay?" Jai asked, glancing between them.

"Yeah, I'm just really wiped out and he probably needs to be on some pain killers now that the mandatory beer is gone."

Jai nodded slowly. "Sure. If you need anything," he hesitated, "either of you need anything, let me know."

Auggie stood and unfolded his cane. He reached out and his fingers brushed against Jai's arm before finding it properly and squeezing. "Hey. Thanks." Annie came around the table and took his arm.

She led him to her car, mind racing all along that perhaps she hadn't stretched the truth to Jai after all.

Auggie's usually color-filled face had gone pale, leaving his eyes looking darker than usual and strange against the pallor. He hung on tightly to her arm as if he worried that me might miss his footing at some point or another and risk having to explain it in words. Their wordless actions that allowed the other to know what was happening was one of the many qualities of their relationship that Annie marveled at. She eased him into the passenger's side of the car before circling and climbing in herself.

"You okay?" she asked once the motor was running.

Auggie took a deep breath. "No. No, I have reached the point where I am not okay. I was okay, I will be okay in the near future, but right now I am very far from that shore." Annie stared at him. "Obnoxiously long answer to yes or no question. Noted. Sorry. Are you okay?"

"About the same." she said quietly. She reached over and took Auggie's hand

He leaned his head back against the seat and took several long, deep breaths, all the while keeping a tight grip around her fingers. He felt the car move back out of the parking slot and start down the road. It was a quiet trip all the way back to his apartment in which neither of them spoke and their hands never left the other's. As they pulled into the back parking lot and Annie wrapped an arm around him in a steadying motion to make it to the elevator and then to his apartment Auggie realized just how lucky he was.

As they walked through the door and she murmured something about getting his meds he fell down to the couch and a small smile crossed his lips. He felt a glass of water pressed into his hands then the pills. "What?" she asked quietly, sounding very tired.

He grinned and pulled her down to join him. "I've come to a conclusion," he said as she shifted her weight into a more comfortable position.

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Two things. One: I am a very, very lucky man."

She chuckled lightly at this. "And two?"

"Two: every last second is going to be worth it."

* * *

A/N: The end!


End file.
